Keyonte George’s career-high 43 points help Jazz rally past Timberwolves
Keyonte George scored a career-high 43 points and Jusuf Nurkic had his second career triple-double to rally the Utah Jazz to a 127-122 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Salt Lake City on Tuesday night.
Nurkic finished with 18 rebounds, 16 points, and 10 assists for his first triple-double since 2019. Ace Bailey added 20 points while Isaiah Collier chipped in 18 points and 10 assists off the bench.
Will Hardy earned his 100th career win as the Jazz head coach.
Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 38 points. Julius Randle added 19 points while Jaden McDaniels chipped in 18 points and six assists. Donte DiVincenzo had a team-high eight assists to go along with 15 points. Naz Reid chipped in 13 off the bench.
Utah trailed by as many as 15 points in the third quarter before erasing the deficit in the fourth.
The Jazz scored on their first 11 possessions of the fourth quarter, culminating in Collier cutting to the rim for a go-ahead layup to give Utah a 107-106 lead.
Once in front, the Jazz did not surrender the lead again. Edwards cut the deficit to 121-119 on a dunk and a free throw with 1:21 left. George countered with a 3-pointer on the other end and then Nurkic followed with a pair of free throws to keep Minnesota from reclaiming the lead in the final minute.
The Timberwolves sprinted out to a 21-10 lead five minutes into the first quarter. Randle made back-to-back baskets to ignite a 16-5 run and then capped the spurt with a running dunk.
George scored four baskets to key a 14-2 run that put Utah up 55-50 late in the second quarter. He scored 14 points in the quarter and had 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting by halftime.
Minnesota trailed by a point at halftime, but took control in the third quarter behind a 17-4 run. DiVincenzo got the ball rolling by scoring or assisting baskets on three straight possessions. Reid punctuated the run by banking in a floating jumper to put the Timberwolves up 85-75.
Edwards made three straight baskets to help Minnesota extend its lead to 94-79 in the final minute of the third quarter.