Hayward helps Jazz down Timberwolves
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gordon Hayward led six Utah players in double figures with 17 points and Enes Kanter added 15 points as the Jazz stomped the Minnesota Timberwolves, 106-84, on Wednesday.
Paul Millsap scored 14 points, Al Jefferson and Jamaal Tinsley each dropped in 12 and Marvin Williams finished with 11 for the Jazz, who snapped a three-game skid.
"We got off this losing streak and got ourselves the win we needed to get to get back on track," Hayward said. "This was a good start."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kevin Love posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, Alexey Shved scored 13 and Andrei Kirilenko had 12 points and seven boards for the Timberwolves, who have dropped five of their last seven overall.
Nikola Pekovic added 11 points in the setback.
The Wolves led 24-23 after the first quarter thanks to a balanced scoring effort. Pekovic and Kirilenko scored six points apiece while Love and Shved each chipped in with four points in the frame.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Utah, though, outscored Minnesota 30-21 in the second period. The Jazz opened the stanza with a 17-6 run to go up 40-30 with just under seven minutes left, but the Wolves scored the next five points to pull within 40-35 a bit later.
The Jazz pushed the spread to 50-41 with 2:15 left and led 53-45 at the break.
Utah shot 50 percent from the floor in the third and held the Wolves to just 27.8 percent efficiency in the frame and held a 79-66 lead entering the final frame.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Jazz outscored Minnesota 27-18 in the fourth to seal the win.
"It was just one of those games where for some reason we couldn't make a shot for like five, six possessions in a row," Kirilenko said.
It wasn't all good news for Utah on Wednesday though, as it learned guard Mo Williams will have surgery to repair an injured right thumb and will miss at least six weeks.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He injured the thumb Dec. 22 at Miami and has not played since.
In 24 games this season, Williams has averaged 12.9 points, 6.7 assists and 2.0 rebounds per contest.
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Jazz outscored the Wolves 56-36 in the paint ... Every active player on both teams scored at least one point in the contest ... Minnesota shot just 34.5 percent (29-for-84) from the floor and were a woeful 2-for-17 from behind the arc.