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Jazz rally to down Timberwolves

Dec 31, 2014 - 6:29 AM Salt Lake City, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - Gordon Hayward scored 11 of his 26 points in the final quarter, and the Utah Jazz rallied to upend the Timberwolves, 100-94, and send Minnesota to its ninth straight defeat.

Trey Burke netted a season-best 26 points for Utah, which finished the game on a 16-2 run. Hayward had 11 of those points, as the Jazz won for the third time in four games.

Derrick Favors scored 15, and Enes Kanter tallied 14 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

"It was really just defense. It seems like everybody made a play on the defensive end whether they were the actual player that deflected the ball and stole it, or someone pressured the pass, or someone denied the pass," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said of the fourth quarter. "It was the defense that created a couple easy buckets and gave us a boost."

Shabazz Muhammad scored a career-high 30 for Minnesota, which fell to 5-25. Andrew Wiggins totaled 21 points for the Timberwolves, whose only field goal over the final four minutes was a tip-in from Gorgui Dieng.

Muhammad's 3-pointer extended the Timberwolves to an 82-72 lead with 9:31 left. The visitors were in front 92-84 following Muhammad's short jumper with 4:23 to go, but then the Jazz applied the defensive pressure and the Timberwolves crumbled down the stretch.

Hayward drained a 3-pointer, and his steal and slam made it a 92-89 game. Burke then hit a jumper. Kanter stole the ball and raced end-to-end for the go-ahead layup with 2:27 left, although replays showed he likely traveled.

Hayward's steal and layup made it 95-92 before Dieng's tip-in came at the 1:21 mark.

A pivotal play then occurred when Burke was called for a charging foul after plowing into Thaddeus Young. Replay was used to show that Young's foot was on the line of the restricted area in the lane, and the call was changed to a block with 1:08 left.

Young then fouled Hayward again, and the Jazz forward hit two free throws with 57.2 seconds left for a 97-94 edge.

Young missed a jumper at the other end, and the Jazz crashed the offensive glass after misses by Burke and Favors. Hayward made two at the charity stripe with 11.9 seconds left, and following a Minnesota timeout, Favors stole the inbounds pass and went 1-of-2 at the foul line to seal the outcome.

"The last five minutes we had breakdowns," Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. "We had some of the same situations: we didn't set as good of screens, we missed some free throws late, and we didn't hold screens. Point blank, they got aggressive and we didn't match their intensity. We played more not to lose than [play] to win and we lost more of our aggressiveness."

Muhammad had 12 points in the opening quarter, which concluded with Minnesota holding a 27-21 edge. The visitors were up as many as 11 in the period.

Utah rallied to hold a 45-44 edge at the half, and the game was tied 72-72 going to the fourth.

Game Notes

Prior to the game, the Jazz disclosed guard Alec Burks will be out the remainder of the season due to surgery on his left shoulder. Burks, who signed a multi-year contract extension, on Oct. 31, will have the procedure performed by Jazz head orthopaedic team physician, Dr. Travis Maak, on Wednesday ... Minnesota has lost nine in a row on the road and is 2-14 away from the Twin Cities this season.