Mitchell Records First Regular Season Double-Double In Jazz Win Over Timberwolves

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah had a 23-point lead in the third quarter but Minnesota stormed back in the fourth quarter but the Jazz prevail 106-102.

Donovan Mitchell recorded his first double-double of his career with 24 points, a career-high 11 assists and 7 rebounds.

Rudy Gobert posted 18 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks, Kyle Korver chipped in 16 points and 5 rebounds off the bench.

Karl Anthony-Towns had a fantastic second half and ended with 33 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves. Andrew Wiggins added 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Utah hit 13-of-40 attempts from the three-point line for 32 percent.

Mitchell Leads Utah In First Half

The Timberwolves were down two point guards with Derrick Rose and Jeff Teague missing the game due to injury. That didn’t hurt Minnesota to start the game with Jerryd Bayless had 5 points early to help the Timberwolves take a 14-8 lead just five minutes into the game.

Utah caught a break with Karl Anthony-Towns picking up two quick fouls and was forced to the bench for the final 5 minutes of the opening quarter.

Mitchell’s second three-pointer of the game gave the Jazz the lead and Jae Crowder followed up with a corner triple to put the lead up to 26-22 with one minute left in the first.

The Jazz finished the first quarter with four made three-pointers and had a 31-24 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Mitchell had 11 points in the opening period while Gorgui Dieng dropped 8 points for the Timberwolves.

Two minutes into the second quarter, Towns picked up his third foul and had to return to the bench.

Utah outscored Minnesota 16-10 in the first 7 minutes of the second quarter to take a 47-34 lead.

The Jazz held serve to finish the first half with a 52-45 lead.

Tale Of Two Quarters In Second Half

The Timberwolves lost their starting forward Taj Gibson after he was assessed two technical fouls for arguing a call by the officials. He was attempting an altercation with one of the officials and had to be restrained by multiple teammates before going to the locker room.

Utah outscored Minnesota in the third quarter 38-24 and had a 90-69 lead at the end of the quarter but the Timberwolves answered at the beginning of the fourth quarter with a 15-2 run.

It took nearly four minutes for the Jazz to score in the final period. With 8 minutes left, the Jazz had their lead trimmed to 92-84.

With three minutes left, the Timberwolves pulled to within two points when Kyle Korver put the lead back to four with a floater in the paint.

Minnesota had the ball with 1:39 left and trailed 101-99 but they couldn’t tie the game after the timeout. Mitchell went to the free-throw line on the following possession and nailed both attempts to put the lead to 103-99.

Anthony Tolliver hit a big three-pointer to trim the lead to just one with 50 seconds left. The Timberwolves got the ball back and had two chances to take the lead with three-point attempts and missed both.

Joe Ingles made both free-throws to bump the lead back to three, 105-102 with 14 seconds left.

Tolliver attempted a three-pointer to tie the game but was heavily contested by Gobert. Mitchell made one of his two free-throws to seal the win.

Whew 😅#TeamIsEverything pic.twitter.com/rxQHwkoGjC

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 26, 2019

Dunk Tracker

Rudy Gobert is on track to beat Dwight Howard’s record for the most dunks in one season with 269 in the 2007-08 season.

Gobert entered the night with a league-best 173 dunks and added 7 more slams to put his total at 180.

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo entered Friday night with a second-best 163 dunks this season. In the Bucks’ 108-99 win over the Charlotte Hornets, Antetokounmpo added six dunks to bring his total to 169.

Up Next

Utah improved to 28-22 on the season and are winners of their last two games and 10 of their last 12. They will have a rematch with the Timberwolves on Sunday in Minnesota. The Timberwolves dropped to 24-25, snapping a three-game winning streak.