Timberwolves-Jazz Game Review - USA TODAY

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Timberwolves-Jazz Game Review - USA TODAY Mar 16th 2012, 11:09 Timberwolves-Jazz Game Review Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Gordon Hayward scored a season-high 26 points and the Utah Jazz topped the Minnesota Timberwolves, 111-105, in overtime Thursday. Devin Harris scored 18 points, Paul Millsap had 16 points with 11 rebounds and eight steals, while Alec Burks finished with 15 points for the Jazz, who bounced back from a loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday and earned their first overtime victory of the season in three chances. Al Jefferson finished with 12 points 13 rebounds, while Josh Howard donated 10 points and Derrick Favors ripped down 16 rebounds in the victory. "Gordon did a great job," Utah head coach Tyrone Corbin said. "He didn't hang his head. He continued to fight. He missed the rebound at the end of the game, but he didn't feel sorry for himself. He came back and made some big plays for us down the stretch." Kevin Love had 25 points and 16 rebounds for the Timberwolves, while Nikola Pekovic added 20 points and nine boards in defeat. Luke Ridnour had 18 points and 13 assists, while J.J. Barea donated 11 points in the loss for Minnesota, which has dropped three of its last four. Trailing, 92-80, with 4:50 to play in regulation, the Timberwolves mounted a furious comeback, closing the final quarter with a 19-7 burst to tie the game at 99 with 0.7 left. Ridnour hit a jumper with 11.9 to go to pull the T'Wolves within 98-97, but Hayward made 1-of-2 from the line to make it a two-point game with 10.3 to go. On the ensuing Minnesota possession, Ridnour launched a deep three-pointer for the win, but missed everything. Pekovic got inside position and put it back to tie the game, sending it to overtime. The extra session featured three ties before the Jazz finally pulled away for good. With the contest tied at 105 and 1:16 to go, Millsap came up with a key steal and fed Hayward, who slammed home the go-ahead bucket to put the Jazz up 107-105. Millsap drained a 19-footer with 19.2 seconds left to put Utah up by four and Hayward sank two free throws to seal the victory. "We had a chance. We got lucky there at the end," Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman said. "I think twice we had chances with a two-point lead to get the ball and we gave up offensive rebounds both times. That was the story all night long." After a tightly played first quarter which featured two lead changes, two ties and a lead no larger than four for either team, the Jazz held a 24-20 lead. Utah scored the first six points of the second frame to build the lead to 30-20 early in the quarter, but Minnesota responded with a 7-3 push to cut the deficit to four on a driving layup by Anthony Randolph with 7:39 left before halftime. Following a timeout, Millsap finished a run out with a layup after a steal by Hayward and Favors tipped one in off a Burks miss to push the lead back to eight, 37-29, with 5:54 left and the Jazz led 53-47 at halftime. The Timberwolves used a 15-6 push to cut the deficit to one with five minutes to go in the third frame, but the Jazz never relinquished the lead and held a 77-71 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. A pair of free throws by Wayne Ellington early in the fourth again cut the deficit to one, but the Jazz responded with a 15-4 run to extend the lead to 92-80. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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