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Timberwolves-Jazz Preview

Jan 28, 2016 - 5:32 PM Amid their longest home stretch of the season, the Utah Jazz believe they have a good opportunity to finally string together some victories.

The Jazz can win back-to-back games for the first time in almost three weeks by handing the Minnesota Timberwolves a 10th consecutive road defeat Friday night.

Utah (20-25) is in the mix for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference despite not having won more than two straight all season and going 3-5 since last doing it Jan. 9-10. The Jazz have alternated losses and wins in the last six at home but feel Wednesday's 102-73 rout of Charlotte might be the spark needed to ignite a lengthy run.

"This is one we can build on for sure," said forward Gordon Hayward, who has averaged 25.6 points in five games.

Rodney Hood scored 24 and Derrick Favors added 12 in 20 minutes in his second game after missing 16 with a back issue as the Jazz shot 49.4 percent. They held the Hornets to 36.8 percent shooting and turned 18 forced turnovers into 20 points to avenge last week's double-overtime loss at Charlotte.

Utah, which has allowed an average of 84.7 points to win two of three, is 1-1 on a six-game home stay that features one remaining opponent (Chicago) with a winning record. And even the Bulls have struggled of late.

"We've got to take advantage of this time," Heyward said. "We've got some more chances coming up to get some good wins. We're starting to get healthy and that's definitely a good feeling."

Favors rejoining 7-foot-1 Rudy Gobert - averaging 14.8 rebounds in four home games - in the paint can only help the Jazz. Hood has continued his strong second season, averaging 23.0 points and going 16 of 30 from 3-point range in the last four contests.

"(I'm) happy to be out there, be with my teammates playing basketball again and just try to make a playoff push," Favors said.

Favors and Gobert sat when the Jazz endured their second-worst shooting effort of the season (35 percent) in a 94-80 loss at Minnesota on Dec. 30. Hood went 1 of 9 from beyond the arc and scored six points.

The Timberwolves (14-33) have dropped 13 of 15 since and are allowing averages of 110.2 points and 50.2 percent shooting during their season-high road skid. Trying to avoid losing at least 10 straight on the road for the fourth time in seven seasons, Minnesota has at least been more competitive overall of late.

It suffered an overtime defeat at Dallas, beat Memphis at home, fell by seven at Cleveland and lost 126-123 to visiting Oklahoma City on Wednesday in the last four games.

"I feel like we should be winning," said guard Zach LaVine, who had a season-high 35 points against the Thunder. "It gets annoying trying to appreciate a loss ... We've just got to keep pushing."

LaVine, Gorgui Dieng, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 96 points as the Timberwolves shot 55.6 percent - their third-best performance of 2015-16. But Oklahoma City made 52.7 percent overall and scored 35 in the fourth quarter.

"This is a game we can live with,'' Towns said. ''We've just got to finish."

Averaging 21.2 points and 12.6 boards in five games, Towns had 25 and 10 against the Jazz.