MINNEAPOLIS — The good news is the Jazz of the North (the Minnesota Timberwolves team featuring Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Joe Ingles and Johnny Juzang) improved to 5-4 on the season and now have an incredible point differential advantage in the NBA Cup race after a 137-97 win on Friday.
The bad news is that came at the expense of the actual Utah Jazz, who were blown out by 40 points and squashed into a lime green pulp in Minnesota on Friday night.
“It’s another night where the game was lost in a short period of time,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “Tonight, it was the first six minutes of the game.
“(The Timberwolves) got to their spots, pretty much anything that they wanted. We didn’t, and then when we did get open looks, we didn’t shoot well tonight, again, so it’s a tough game to play when you’re down 28 at the end of the first quarter.”
Things only got worse from there. The Jazz eventually trailed by as many as 44 points in a game that was never in question for the T-Wolves.
And certainly a lot of the credit goes to Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, who scored 37 and 22 points, respectively. But the Jazz lost every single quarter, even when the Wolves emptied the bench.
The Minnesota fans had ample time in the fourth quarter to celebrate Joan Beringer dunks and Bones Hyland jumpers, while watching Rob Dillingham and Leonard Miller help to maintain and extend the Wolves’ lead.
They even had time to chant Joe Ingles’ name, hoping for a novelty 3-pointer from the aging Aussie.
Meanwhile, the Jazz — starters, bench, deep bench — provided little resistance and were embarrassed on a Wolves’ NBA Cup court that can only be described at fluorescent artichoke, or radioactive avocado.
“I think it’s it’s an honor to play in the NBA, it’s an honor to wear an NBA jersey, it’s an honor to step on an NBA court — no matter how ugly that court is,