Towns blasted 32-11 and the Timberwolves were firmly in first place in the West, Gobert was 15-13, and Lee Kyle had six assists
Downs Boom Thirty-Two Plus Eleven! Minnesota held on to the first spot in the West, with Gobert scoring 15+13 and Lee Kyle grabbing four rebounds and six assists.
The 2023-24 season starts on January 1, NBA Beijing time, and the current Eastern Conference bigwigs, the Timberwolves, will play at home against the Utah Jazz, and this time, they will usher in a new season. Minnesota won two victories last time out over the Thunder, a dark horse in the West, and is in top of the West with a 13-4 record; Utah is now ranked 12th, 6-12. In this game, Utah was back-to-back, with two main players, Markkanen and Clarkson, both injured, and Edwards also injured.
Both teams averaged low scoring in the first quarter, with the Timberwolves shooting 2-of-9 from the perimeter, and Utah faring no better, 2-of-7; Utah was equally bad in the box, shooting 6-of-12 from the field compared to Minnesota's 7-of-12 shooting, outscoring the Jazz 23-20 in the first quarter;
Both sides made more three-pointers in the second quarter, with Minnesota shooting five of their 12 three-pointers compared to Utah's 3-of-10, but Minnesota's offensive efficiency plummeted, with only five of the 11 painted areas compared to seven for the Jazz. Downs played his leadership style in the quarter, shooting 4-of-7, making five fouls, making four free throws and scoring 13 points. In this quarter, Minnesota pulled back five points at 29-24 to tie the score at 47-49 and led by two points into the second half;
In this game, the Forest team broke out in full swing, and the Jazz completely collapsed in this quarter. The Forest made all three of their free throws, but they missed a shot inside, while Utah was cold inside and out, with three three-pointers, nine of which were three and one was three. On the other side, Towns led the Timberwolves to widen the gap to 35-19, extending the gap to 16 points for a combined 84-66 and Minnesota ending the game with an 18-point advantage;
In the last quarter, Towns made a layup first, Sexton returned the ball, Lee Kyle turned around for a layup, Tucker broke through the middle, dunked and scored, Collins scored three points, Tucker flew to shoot, and hit a 7-0 mini-climax, chasing the score to 13. Lee Kyle contributed 3 points to the Knicks in the final moment, and then Lee Kyle hit another quick layup for 2 points in a row, allowing the Timberwolves to firmly control the situation; In the end, Nottingham Forest won against Utah to claim 3 wins.
Towns played well in this game, he scored 32 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists on 12-of-22 shooting; Walker 20 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, Gobert 15 points and 13 rebounds, Brown 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Conley 8 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists, Lee Kyle 4 points, 1 rebound and 6 assists, Reed 6 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists;
For Utah, Fontecchio had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Collins 9 points and 12 rebounds, Ute Severn 2 points and 7 rebounds, Abaki 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, George 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Sexton 11 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, Kessler 7 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists.