Jazz 96, Timberwolves 80
Al Jefferson had 22 points and eight rebounds and visiting Utah defeated Minnesota to move within one game of the Los Angeles Lakers in the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Mo Williams scored 15 points and Randy Foye added 14 as the Jazz beat the Timberwolves for the fourth consecutive time this season. Utah closes the regular season by visiting the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday and holds the tiebreaker edge with the Lakers.
Derrick Williams scored 18 points, Dante Cunningham tallied 12 and J.J. Barea added 11 for the Timberwolves, who have lost four of their last five games.
Minnesota trailed by just three late in the third quarter before Utah finished the stanza with a 10-2 run to take a 71-60 lead. The Timberwolves cut Utah’s lead to nine on Chase Budinger’s basket with 8:26 remaining but Foye scored seven points during a 9-0 surge to give Utah an 86-68 advantage with six minutes to go.
Utah ripped off 16 straight points for an early 16-2 lead. Minnesota pulled within two late in the half before the Jazz recovered and took a 49-41 lead into the break.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Timberwolves C Nikola Pekovic (calf) missed his third straight game. … Utah has won 11 of the last 13 meetings. … Minnesota was just 2-of-17 from 3-point range with Barea having both of the makes.