SALT LAKE CITY _ Exactly a week after they lost star Jimmy Butler in the third quarter of a loss at Houston, the Minnesota Timberwolves went without gifted big man Karl-Anthony Towns for more than half of Friday's contentious 116-108 loss at Utah.
Butler, of course, went down clutching his knee and was lost for the coming weeks because of a partially torn meniscus cartilage that required surgery less than two days later.
One night after a 34-point, 17-point game at Portland, Towns was gone from Friday's game with 23 seconds left before halftime after referees called him for two technical fouls in the first half's final minute and he was ejected for the first time in his career.
Teammate Jeff Teague followed in the game's final minutes as well when he was called for a flagrant foul after hip-checking former Wolves guard Ricky Rubio in full spring right in front of the Wolves' bench with 5:20 left.
Getting up quickly, Rubio didn't take too kindly to the foul.
It all was enough to get Butler back on Twitter for the first time since 2016.
When Teague sent Rubio flying and the referees went to review, Butler tweeted, "Jeff that's what I like to see. Rubio getting up quick for no reason."
When Jazz forward Jae Crowder and Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau later were called for off-setting technical, Butler tweeted, "Jae get away from my coach. You don't want no smoke either."
Before it was all over, Crowder was ejected, too, with 45.3 seconds left.
Without Towns, the Wolves rallied from a 12-point deficit in the third quarter and drew within two points early in the fourth quarter before the Jazz pushed back and rebuilt an 11-point lead with fewer than six minutes left.
The Wolves never got closer than five points again.
Missing the last time these teams played, Utah big man Rudy Gobert delivered a 26-point, 14-rebound performance while Rookie of the Year candidate Donovan Mitchell scored 23 points.
Andrew Wiggins led the Wolves with 27 points with Butler and Towns missing and Teague scored 25 before his ejection. Starting forward Taj Gibson played nearly 40 minutes after he left Thursday's game at Portland because of a hip injury.
The Wolves refused to go gentle into that good night on a night when forward Nemanja Bjelica played all but three minutes and Thibodeau invented lineups that included point guards Teague and Tyus Jones playing with Jamal Crawford in a three-guard lineup in the fourth quarter.
Until Friday, Teague and Jones had played together a total of five minutes this season.
Towns was ejected after he picked up not one technical foul, but two in the first half's final minute.
The first came when he jostled for position against Crowder on the offensive end and struck Crowder with a forearm to the face.
The second came with 23 seconds left in the half after he scored on a successful drive to the basket and then complained to the referees on the way back down the court that they didn't call a foul and rule for a potential three-point play, too.
Thibodeau invited new lineup combination in the fourth quarter of Thursday's game at Portland. That's where his team played without the injured Butler all game, of course, and veteran starter Gibson missed the final quarter because of a left hip contusion.
Gibson returned to the starting lineup Friday and the Wolves played on after Towns' ejection, starting big man Gorgui Dieng in his center spot after halftime and relying upon the scoring of both Wiggins and Teague.
When Gobert went to the bench four minutes into the third quarter, the Wolves trimmed what had been a 12-point deficit to as few as four points five times still in the third quarter.
Teague scored nine of the Wolves' points in an 11-3 burst that pulled them within four points the first time.
Teague started them back with a three-point play, picked Rubio's pocket for a steal and layup, scored on a floater and then lured Rubio into fouling him out beyond the three-point line.
But each time the Wolves pushed, the Jazz pushed back, never allowing the Wolves any closer than those four-point deficits.
