What to Watch For: Utah Jazz vs Minnesota Timberwolves

The Utah Jazz were dominant against the Houston Rockets on Thursday night, beating their Western Conference foe 112-89. With a win in tonight's matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Jazz will officially clinch a playoff spot in the 2020-2021 NBA Playoffs.

Jazz vs Timberwolves Throwback:

The Jazz have been dominant during this 128-game series, leading the Timberwolves in wins 85-43. These two teams matched up earlier this season, which ended in an upset defeat in the Timberwolves favor.

On December 26, 2020, during the second game of the NBA season, the Jazz fell short against the Timberwolves 111-116. Jordan Clarkson led the way during the game with 23-points, while Donovan Mitchell added 5-assists and 2-blocks. Utah will look for revenge later this evening as these two teams will square off once again.

Key Players:

Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns are always an exciting matchup when watching the Jazz and Timberwolves go toe-to-toe.

Gobert is the current frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year and has kept the Jazz stout defensively this season. Gobert currently leads the team in rebounds (13.6), field goal percentage (67.3%), and blocks (2.8) per game.

Karl Anthony Towns has one again been a standout player for the Timberwolves this season. He leads his team in points (24.8), rebounds (10.9), and blocks (1.4).

Fun Facts:

The Jazz will don their new green uniforms for the eighth time tonight against the Timberwolves. Utah is 5-2 in their "Earned Edition" uniforms, and were victorious in their last game wearing the jersey.

The top two frontrunners for Sixth-Man of the Year are Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles. You can read more about the race for that award here. The Jazz also have two other post season award frontrunners with Quin Snyder (NBA's Coach of the Year) and Rudy Gobert (Defensive Player of the Year).

Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid have been vocal in their pleadings to win Defensive Player of the Year Award over Jazzman Rudy Gobert. We have written a two-article series comparing the three players, which you can read here: (Ben Simmons vs Rudy Gobert) (Joel Embiid vs Rudy Gobert)

Donovan Mitchell's x-rays came back negative following his ankle injury against the Indiana Pacers last week. According to the Jazz injury report on ESPN, he is due to be re-evaluated next week.

The Joe and Renae Ingles auction for autism awareness is LIVE, and can be found here. If you are able, please bid on these items in order to help those in the autism community.

Charles Barkley is starting to believe that the Utah Jazz are contenders to win the NBA Finals. He made his comment on TNT two nights ago, and although his co-hosts weren't as quick to hop on the bandwagon, Barkley stood strong with his opinion. You can read more about it here.

The Jazz will seek revenge for a loss earlier this season as they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in back to back games starting this evening. The Jazz are 44-15 and remain in first place in the NBA. Utah leads the Phoenix Suns by two games and the Los Angeles Clippers by two and a half games in the Western Conference. They also lead the Brooklyn Nets by four and a half games and the Philadelphia 76ers by five games in the Eastern Conference.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are 16-44 and are in second to last place in both the NBA and Western Conference standings. They have officially been eliminated from playoff contention and are 2-3 in their last five games. In that span, they have beaten the Sacramento Kings and Miami Heat, while losing to the Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers, and Milwaukee Bucks.

Donovan Mitchell (right ankle sprain) is out, and is the only non-season ending injury (Udoka Azubuike) on the Jazz injury report for their game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves injury report includes Jaylen Nowell (lower leg) who is listed as doubtful. Malik Beasley (hamstring) will be out for Saturday night's matchup with the Jazz.

How to Consume:

The Utah Jazz will seek revenge against the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight at 7pm MST. Jazz fans can watch the game on AT&T SportsNet, and can also tune into the game on 97.5FM or 1280AM.

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