Dosunmu, Ball carry Timberwolves past Jazz 115-100 for fourth straight win
Ayo Dosunmu scored 26 and LaMelo Ball 24 as Minnesota beat Utah 115-100, moving to 8-3 at the start of an eight-game homestand.
The Minnesota Timberwolves started their longest homestand of the season with a 115-100 win over the Utah Jazz on Sunday night. Ayo Dosunmu led the way with 26 points and LaMelo Ball added 24 points and five assists. The win was Minnesota's fourth in a row and lifted the team to 8-3.
Minnesota also had help further down the box score. ESPN's wire recap had Jaden McDaniels at 16 points and Bones Hyland at 14. The biggest change came at the free-throw line. The Timberwolves arrived with the league's worst free-throw percentage at .648, then made 27 of their 32 attempts. Dosunmu went 8 for 8. For a team that had been giving away points at the stripe, it was the cleanest night of the young season.
The game turned early in the fourth quarter. Utah missed its first nine shots of the period and went nearly four minutes without a point while Minnesota pushed the lead to 19. The Jazz were short-handed. Lauri Markkanen sat out with a right wrist injury, and Fox Sports reported that Keyonte George scored 19 points in three quarters before a sprained right ankle kept him out of the fourth. Rookie Darryn Peterson led Utah with 26 points and six rebounds. The Jazz have now lost eight straight and fell to 1-9, last in the Western Conference.
The win also came without Anthony Edwards. The All-Star guard had knee surgery on Oct. 29 and is expected to miss about two months, as noted in the wire report carried by the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Minnesota is 5-2 since then. Dosunmu and Ball have taken on the scoring load, and so far the offense has held up.
What it means for Dallas on Thursday
Next up is the Dallas Mavericks at home on Thursday, Nov. 12, the second game of the eight-game stretch in Minneapolis. The game airs on NBA TV.
Over 11 games, Minnesota has averaged about 118 points and allowed about 107, an average margin of a little more than 11 points. The four-game streak includes road wins at Houston (117-107) and New Orleans (115-109) and a 112-100 home win over Milwaukee. Two of the three losses were close, 127-125 at Cleveland and 119-114 to Golden State. The third was a 121-111 loss at San Antonio. Counting Sunday, the Timberwolves are 4-1 at home.
Dallas has already seen the team Minnesota just beat. The Mavericks hosted Utah on Friday, a game in which Markkanen made eight 3-pointers before his wrist kept him out Sunday. The Timberwolves will get three days off before Thursday, which matters more with Edwards out and the rotation relying on Dosunmu, Ball and Hyland.
The free-throw shooting is the number to watch. One 27-for-32 night does not erase a .648 start, but if the improvement holds, a team that has already been winning by double digits gets a little harder to beat. A home win over Dallas would put Minnesota at 9-3 with six games left on the homestand.