NBA Monday Night – Jazz vs Timberwolves

The Utah Jazz have a remarkable opportunity to get in front in the race against Los Angeles now that Kobe Bryant is out for the season, but they need beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, this Monday at 8 PM ET at the Target Center.

“The playoffs started a month ago for us,” Al Jefferson said.

“Focus. Focus,” coach Tyrone Corbin said. “They play well at home. They have great fans in Minnesota. They’re really going to be hyped for this game. They know how important it is for us. So that’s really going to motivate them to be spoilers, so we want to come in focused and ready to play.”

The Jazz has won 10 of the past 12 meetings against the Wolves but none more needed than this one. If Utah and Los Angeles tie in records for the eight place, the Jazz will get the seed because of the head to head matchups.

Minnesota is 20-20 this season at home and will play for absolutely nothing.

“We haven’t done anything lately,” coach Rick Adelman said. “We haven’t done shootarounds. We’ve been trying to see how that goes with the guys, and they’ve responded. It won’t happen next year. These guys have busted their tails all year long. Let’s try something different.”

Utah has covered the betting spread in seven of the last 10 meetings against Minnesota, but the last time they met the Wolves managed to cover. Also, seven of the last 10 matchups have gone OVER the total.