Wolves at Jazz

Wolves at Jazz
8:00 pm CDT
FS North

The Wolves find themselves playing another opponent that will be highly motivated to win tonight when they visit Utah. The Jazz currently sit a half game in front of the Clippers for the fourth seed (and home court advantage in their upcoming first round series.)

The last time these teams met, also in Utah, the Wolves had one of their most comprehensive wins of the season, a 107-80 pasting on March first. Since then these teams have gone in different directions. Most recently, despite a slew of injuries, the Jazz have won five of their last six contests. They’ve relied on a defense that is ninth in the league and star Gordon Hayward. They are very sound defensively, forcing difficult shots without fouling and controlling the defensive boards. It helps to have one of the premier rim protectors int he league in Rudy Gobert on your side.

The Wolves once again played their starters extremely heavy minutes last night in Portland, and it’s a question how much energy they will have for tonight’s contest.

The Jazz will likely be without George Hill and Rodney Hood, and perhaps without Derrick Favors as well as they all recover from injury.

Expected Lineups

Jazz

Dante Exum
Gordon Hayward
Joe Ingles
Boris Diaw
Rudy Gobert

Wolves

Ricky Rubio
Brandon Rush
Andrew Wiggins
Gorgui Dieng
Karl-Anthony Towns

Our blogging buddies tonight are over at SLC Dunk. Be excellent.