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Love leads T-Wolves over Jazz

Jan 22, 2014 - 6:27 AM Salt Lake City, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Love came close to a triple- double with 19 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists to help the Minnesota Timberwolves sweep a home-and-home against the Utah Jazz with a 112-97 win on Tuesday night.

Corey Brewer also scored 19 points, while Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic netted 18 points apiece for Minnesota. Ricky Rubio added an 11-point, 13- assist double-double in the win.

Gordon Hayward returned from a five-game absence because of a hip injury to lead all scorers with 27 points, while Alec Burks tallied 18 points off the bench and Jeremy Evans added 10 in a reserve role for Utah, which has lost three of its last four games.

Minnesota jumped all over Utah in the opening quarter as Brewer hit a 3- pointer to begin a 9-0 sprint that put the Wolves up 19-6 just past the midway point of the first.

"They always play hard here. They have a good home-court advantage," Love said of the Jazz. "So we just wanted to come out and give a sustained energy and I thought we were well-balanced throughout our entire lineup."

The lead grew to as many as 18 in the quarter when Love knocked down a three and Brewer followed with a dunk for a 30-12 advantage.

The Timberwolves led 34-16 after one and brought a 54-39 lead into halftime.

Utah couldn't trim the deficit in the third as J.J. Barea's trey pushed the lead to a game-high 26 and Minnesota cruised over the final 12 minutes en route to the blowout win.

"It just seemed like they wanted it a little more," Evans said. "We just need to work a little harder."

Game Notes

Utah forward Derrick Favors missed the contest due to a hip flexor injury ... Utah shot 41-of-87 (47.1 percent) from the field, while Minnesota shot 41- of-90 (45.6 percent) ... Minnesota scored 18 points on 14 Utah turnovers ... The Wolves were 8-for-21 (38.1 percent) from beyond the arc.