Wolves fall to Jazz, lose ninth game in a row

SALT LAKE CITY – Just when the Timberwolves seemed poised to win a game for the first time in three weeks, Utah and $63 million man Gordon Hayward stole it away from them 100-94 on Tuesday at EnergySolutions Arena.

Trailing by eight points with 4:23 left, a once-weary Jazz team that had lost to the Clippers in Los Angeles the night before finished with a 16-2 flourish that sent the Wolves to their ninth consecutive loss and their 15th in the past 16 games.

Signed last summer to a maximum-contract offer that Utah matched, Hayward scored 11 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and provided two crucial steals that he turned into slam dunks and outdid Wolves forward Shabazz Muhammad's career-high, 30-point night.

Muhammad scored 13 of those 30 in that fourth quarter, including back-to-back threes that ended a 10-0 Wolves' run that started the quarter and gave the Wolves an 82-72 lead with 9½ minutes left.

But he scored just two points in the final seven minutes after the Jazz intensified its defense, another sellout crowd that sits practically on top of the court got loud and the young, rebuilding Jazz won for the fifth time in six games.

If you're a Wolves' fan who feels like you've been through this before, well, you're not alone.

Wolves coach Flip Saunders called Tuesday's loss a "carbon copy" after a game in which his team committed four turnovers and once again missed too many free throws — 1-for-4 this time in the fourth quarter alone.

"This is how we've been," Saunders said. "The difference is they have a player in Gordon Hayward who took over the game. That's why he's a max player, and we weren't able to make those plays. … Those guys are hurting in there. It's a hard learning curve. We're playing well. They know that. You need a victory just to rejuvenate yourself and your fans who are out there watching, who are frustrated and throwing pillows at TVs."

The Wolves' youth put them in position to win the game. Muhammad made five of six three-pointers, half the 10 he had made this entire season before Tuesday and surpassed his previous career high of 28 when he scored his final points of the night, a short shot around the basket that put the Wolves ahead 92-84 with that 4:23 left. Afterward, Saunders called Muhammad's play "phenomenal."

Rookie Andrew Wiggins scored 21 points, 11 in the third quarter.

Hayward himself outscored the Wolves the rest of the way, 11-2.

"They were aggressive with us, trying to get the ball out of our hands," Wiggins said, referring to Utah's late-game defense. "Shabazz dominated the whole game. He was absolutely killing it."

Afterward, one of the team's veterans — Thad Young — blamed himself for the loss after he missed two free throws when the Wolves led by a point with 2:18 left. Gorgui Dieng's tip-in of Young's missed layup pulled the Wolves within a point at 1:21 before Utah scored the game's final five points.

"Personally, I felt like everything that possibly could go wrong for a player in the last minute of the game did go wrong," said Young, who made four of 11 shots and scored justnine points. "Missed two free throws, missed a layup that luckily Gorgui tipped in, two jumpers."

Muhammad blamed himself, too, for committing a turnover the Jazz turned into the go-ahead basket with 2:27 left.

"That's my fault on that one," Muhammad said. "That's something I've got to learn, get the ball out quicker. We're still a youthful team."