Utah Jazz stumble into the Target Center against the Minnesota Timberwolves

I’m gonna walk to Target.

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

The Utah Jazz remind me of myself in this one way: we both get caught shuffling, stumbling, and meandering through Target on Friday night. We differ in these two specific ways: I rarely appear at the sliding glass doors with my socks on, and I usually come away with something that I actually wanted before making the trip to the store to the big red circle.

When I walk into Target, I’m often embarrassed to discover that someone I know is also unshaven and scouring the aisles of our local nationwide

grocer. The Utah Jazz tumble into the Target Center this Friday to revisit Joe Ingles in his most comfortable rocking chair, a freshly-bald Rudy Gobert, and the living embodiment of Uncle Drew (Chris Paul notwithstanding), Mike Conley. Three Utah Jazz legends meet their old team with NBA Cup implications, and what’s projected to be a comfortable win for the T-Wolves.

The Jazz put up a good fight in Detroit just a few days ago, sans Walker Kessler, as they led the surging Pistons at the halftime break in the Motor City. That drag race quickly turned into a drag for the visiting Jazz, however, as they collectively struggled to keep the beat and quickly fell behind, scoring just 14 points in the third quarter and allowing 71 points in a crushing and undeniable second-half holdout. Shoutout to 28-point scorer, Svi Mykhailiuk, though. You are seen.

Utah enters this game with Kessler and Niang out of commission, and though Anthony Edwards and Terrance Shannon Jr. are day-to-day on the other side, the Jazz are outclassed entering the court this Friday in Minnesota.

Still, the diligent fan always unearths a reason to watch, and this chapter is not without a plot. Storylines to watch in this one include, but are not limited to, the following:

Keyonte George’s three-point shot has been… how should I put it? Ghoulish. He’s hitting 26.1% of his three-point tries this year, and that’s a tremendous bummer considering how every other aspect of his game seems to be riding the wings of eagles, on a steep ascent to a Most Improved Player campaign. I hold out hope that his shooting numbers can revert to the mean, and this can continue to be his best season as a pro.

Ace Bailey puts it together? Yeah, maybe. We saw during his first preseason game what happens when Will Hardy runs some sets for his young, aspiring star and places confidence in the team’s highest draft pick, but that’s been absent since Bailey’s non-descript illness sent him careening into the abyss of obscurity. As we all know, the preseason didn’t happen, but it felt so real. For that reason, I reserve the right to believe in Airous’ upside until my dying day, and you hold me accountable to that on my deathbed.

Who fills the Kessler void? Because it certainly isn’t going to be Jusuf Nurkic all season, right? I feel like Taylor Hendricks is holding back in recent appearances, and his output in the regular season has left me completely befuddled. I have no tangible evidence to back up said inclination. Maybe what I thought was there was never actually there at all. Maybe I’m an outsider who knows nothing about the development and trajectory of Taylor Hendricks. Maybe I should push all my chips into the Kyle Filipowski square and pray that the roulette wheel blesses Flip with defensive ability?

Who knows? But those will be interesting plot points to witness as they unfold against the Minnesota Timberwolves.