Minneapolis ? As rare as road victories have been this season for the Jazz, six-game winning streaks have been even more rare.
The Jazz were able to achieve both Wednesday night, pulling away in the fourth quarter 37-22 to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 120-103 at Target Center, improving to 9-1 in February and 10-17 on the road this season. Ronnie Brewer scored 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and Deron Williams overcame a 4 of 12 shooting night to finish with 13 points and 12 assists. The Jazz's six-game winning streak is their best this season.
Minnesota was led by Ryan Gomes with 24 points and Kevin Love with 24 points and 15 rebounds. The Timberwolves dropped to 1-6 since losing center Al Jefferson to a season-ending knee injury earlier this month.
The Jazz took an 83-81 lead into the fourth quarter, but pushed in front by eight with 7:55 to play. After Williams hit a jumper, Ronnie Brewer stripped Mike Miller and raced for a layup while being fouled by Sebastian Telfair. His three-point play made it 97-89.
The Timberwolves closed within four points, but Telfair missed an open jumper and the Jazz scored 10 unanswered points. Brewer grabbed the rebound after Kyle Korver missed a three-pointer and dunked it home to make it 109-97.
Playing his second game back from knee surgery, Carlos Boozer finisehd with 12 points and four rebounds in 21 minutes.
The Jazz stumbled at the start, falling behind by seven in the first quarter, but came to life with Korver in for the last three minutes. Korver hit two jumpers and earned two trips to the foul line as he cut to get open, scoring eight points as part of a 11-2 run.
With Korver in the game, Utah outscored Minnesota 36-23 in the first half. Korver had 14 points and hit 4 of 5 shots in 13 first-half minutes, with two assists and two steals.
But the Jazz gave back a nine-point lead in the last three minutes, with Mike Miller hitting a three-pointer and Love scoring as part of a three-point play, to go into halftime trailing 55-51.
Williams went 1 of 9 in the first quarter, missing four shots as Minnesota scored 12 unanswered points and closed the half on a 16-3 run. Williams argued for foul calls as he tried to score in the post, missed a runner and couldn't get a layup to fall on a drive.
Boozer hit three shots in the first quarter, but coughed up the ball twice in the last 1:38 of the first half, leading to a layup on the fast break for Gomes.
