Last week: Won at Atlanta 125-113, won at San Antonio 113-101
This week: Sunday vs. Memphis, Wednesday at Dallas, Friday at Oklahoma City
After a pair of 12-point road wins last week, the Minnesota TImberwolves are back over the .500 mark, even as they continue to do it in reverse. Minnesota is 7-2 on the road, but only 3-6 at Target Center.
The Wolves won at Atlanta and San Antonio and have won their last four road games overall, even as they have lost four straight at home. As previously mentioned, it’s a little backward.
Backup guard Shabazz Napier has missed Minnesota’s last 12 games with a hamstring injury, while reserve wing Jake Layman has been out the last four games with an injured toe.
None of that has mattered to Karl-Anthony Towns, who continues to roll through the season, scoring 51 points with 27 rebounds, 14 assists and three blocks in 62 minutes last week, shooting 48.5 percent overall and dropping 6-of-15 (40.0 percent) from long range.
Last week: Lost at Milwaukee 122-118, lost at Indiana 121-102, won at Memphis 103-94
This week: Sunday at Toronto, Monday at Philadelphia, Wednesday vs. Lakers, Saturday vs, Memphis
The Utah Jazz salvaged one game last week as they embarked on a five-game trip, but the road jaunt ends with a tough back-to-back at Toronto and Philadelphia Sunday and Monday.
Then the Jazz get to go home to play the Lakers — who only have the best record in the NBA. The NBA regular season is truly a grind, but Utah is getting healthy, with backup big man Ed Davis back after missing 12 games with a fractured fibula and two-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert returning from a two-game absence with an ankle injury.
While it was believed over the summer that Utah had acquired a star in Mike Conley, the real gem of the offseason has been Bojan Bogdanovic, who is putting up All-Star like numbers after signing with the Jazz as a free agent.
Last week, Bogdanovic averaged 29.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steals in 35.6 minutes per game, shooting 60.4 percent overall and 56.5 percent on 7.7 3-point tries per game (13-for-23). He is putting up a career-high 22.1 points per game and shooting a career-best 46.8 percent from deep on seven attempts a night.