Timberwolves outlast Jazz, but lose Naz Reid
The good news is the Timberwolves found a way to beat the Utah Jazz for the second time in three nights, posting a 114-104 victory Monday night in Salt Lake City.
The bad news is that the injuries keep stacking up for Minnesota. Naz Reid, who was in the starting lineup Monday with center Rudy Gobert out due to a left rib strain, exited after the first half and was ruled out for the rest of the game due to a head injury.
Reid was off to a torrid start, too, with 17 points and four rebounds before his exit. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters postgame that he did not have an update on Reid's status.
Without Gobert, Reid and Karl-Anthony Towns, who is recovering from meniscus surgery, Anthony Edwards once again delivered for the Timberwolves (47-21), tallying 32 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and providing perhaps the dunk of the year during the third quarter of Monday night's game.
Running out in transition, Edwards passed the ball off to Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who passed it back to him with a clean runway. Edwards took flight and threw down a poster slam over Jazz forward John Collins, collecting a foul in the process.
Edwards immediately grabbed his left hand — he threw down the dunk with his right — following the highlight-reel slam, showed it to the Timberwolves bench and ran into the locker room. But after a brief break, he returned to the game to shoot the free throw and played the remainder of the game.
Had he not returned for the free-throw attempt, he would not have been able to return to the contest. Instead, he came back with his hand taped up.
Edwards said after the game on Bally Sports North that he dislocated his finger.
"That was the best dunk of my career, I'm not gonna lie," Edwards said in his postgame, on-court interview.
Collins was also injured on the play but did not return for the Jazz (29-39).
The Timberwolves trailed by as many as 16 during the first quarter but slowly but surely worked their way back into the contest. They outscored the Jazz by 12 points over the second and third quarters to set up the fourth frame, where they pulled away.
"I thought (Edwards' dunk) was really what kinda flipped the game around for us," Finch told reporters. "Just from an emotional point of view, we needed a really big play. And all credit to Anthony, too, he didn't start the game the greatest, we looked a little kinda sluggish, but he kept at it."
It's the Timberwolves' third straight win. There will be no rest for the weary, however, as the defending champion Denver Nuggets visit Target Center Tuesday night. It'll be a crucial game in the Western Conference standings, and it comes at a tough time for a beat-up Timberwolves team coming off a game in Utah.
Final key stats
- Anthony Edwards: 32 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal
- Naz Reid: 17 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker: 13 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks
- Jordan McLaughlin: 11 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal
- Kyle Anderson: 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block
- Collin Sexton: 24 points, 2 assists
