Love received a huge ovation when he made his first appearance with 6:42 left in the first quarter. His offensive rebound in the fourth quarter turned out to be the game’s key play.
From that point, Al Jefferson, who was 3-for-13 at the time, took over and scored nine of his 15 points in the final minutes of the game and kept Utah from getting closer than four points.
Minnesota fans should be elated to witness the improvement from rookie Wayne Ellington. Through the first month of the season, Ellington rushed into poor decisions with too many turnovers. Over the past week, the former North Carolina standout has displayed intensity while making smart reads in game action. Saturday night was a prime example of the growth, Ellington posted 10 points and four boards including crunch time minutes in the fourth quarter.
Kurt Rambis said before the game that he would likely begin to reduce the number of players who get regular minutes, and he certainly lived up to that Saturday. Nathan Jawai and Oleksiy Pecherov never got off the bench, and Ryan Hollins and Ramon Sessions each played fewer than 14 minutes, far below their 20-plus averages. Sessions’ playing time was largely due to Jonny Flynn’s strong play, but it will be interesting to monitor how much the trio of centers play now that Kevin Love is back.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
