MINNEAPOLIS _ The Timberwolves had a chance these past two games to make up some ground on a team ahead of them in the Western Conference standings with a pair of games against Utah.
But the Wolves lost Friday night in an emotionally-charged contest and then fell again Sunday as their defense couldn't stop Utah in the fourth quarter of a 125-111 loss at Target Center.
Utah shot an efficient 18 of 29 in the fourth and the Wolves let a strong shooting night from 3-point range (17 of 36) go to waste.
Ricky Rubio haunted his former team with an efficient 18 points and eight assists while Donovan Mitchell overcame a choppy first half to finish with 29.
Andrew Wiggins had 35 points on 13 of 23 shooting while Jerryd Bayless and Luol Deng turned back the clock to score 15 and 19 points, respectively, but the defense wasn't there. Karl-Anthony Towns had 22 points, six rebounds and seven assists as the Wolves fell four game back of the No. 8 seed Clippers.
Utah had the lead for most of the first half as they took advantage of low energy in Target Center to take an early 16-7 lead, prompting a timeout from a fiery Ryan Saunders, who was upset with his team's start.
But the Wolves picked up the energy following the timeout as Karl-Anthony Towns went at Rudy Gobert, one of the top defensive centers in the league. Towns had 11 first-quarter points as the Wolves closed the gap to 25-22 by the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter, the Jazz tested the injury-plagued Wolves' depth and for the first few minutes of the quarter, Minnesota stayed within a basket of Utah, but the Jazz got five straight points from Ricky Rubio, who helped create a little separation.
Andrew Wiggins was able to get some points as he kept attacking the basket, but outside of Wiggins and Towns, the Wolves had trouble generating offense. Up until a minute ago, Wiggins and Towns had combined for 9 of 16 shooting and 24 points while the rest of the Wolves were 6 of 20 for 20 points. But then Jerryd Bayless hit back-to-back 3s to end the half and allowed the Wolves to cut a nine-point deficit to three headed into the locker room.
The Wolves came out hot in the third quarter hitting 7 of 10 from 3-point range and regained the lead for the first time 79-78 when Luol Deng buried one of those 3s. But the Jazz were able to build their lead again thanks to an efficient quarter from Donovan Mitchell, who turned a corner from the first half when he went 2 of 12. Mitchell 5 of 7 in the third quarter for 13 points and the Jazz led by five entering the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, when the Wolves needed to stop the Jazz on the defensive end of the floor, they couldn't compile enough to make a run. Rubio kept sticking it to his old team while his teammates, who only had the 20th most efficient offense entering the night, had little trouble slicing through the Wolves defense. Saunders put the starters back in with the Wolves down 11 at the 7:59 mark and while Wiggins hit a few baskets, the defense couldn't match up.
The Jazz got to the basket at will and had open jumpers all around the floor with shooters taking their time in certain moments because they were so wide open.
