MINNEAPOLIS (ABC4 Sports) - It was a very familiar site for Jazz fans, watching Mike Conley toss up lobs for Rudy Gobert to dunk. But this time, it hurt.
Gobert had 15 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks for Minnesota, while Conley dished out seven assists, and Karl-Anthony Towns went for 32 points and 11 rebounds, as Jazz dropped to 1-9 on the road with a 101-90 loss Thursday night.
The Jazz set a new season-low in points with 90, after scoring 91 last night in Memphis.
"Tonight we really struggled to put the ball in the basket," head coach Will Hardy said. "Minnesota is one of the best defensive teams for a reason."
Minnesota held Utah to just 37.9 percent shooting from the floor.
The Wolves moved into a tie with Boston for the best record in the league (14-4).
Former Jazz guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored a season-high 20 points for Minnesota.
Acquired in a trade with Utah last season that also brought Conley to the Wolves, Alexander-Walker had the chance to show his former team what he's capable of when given the opportunity.
“You try not to make it personal, because you want to come out the same way against every other team," Alexander-Walker said. “But I'm human at the end of the day, so it still feels good to win.”
With its top two leading scorers, Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson out, Simone Fontecchio led Utah with 16 points and five assists. Ochai Agbaji had in 13 points and six rebounds for the Jazz, who fell to 6-13 on the year.
"When you play a really good team, it shows our guys and it shows our staff the areas we have to improve and what we have to refine in our process," Hardy said. "This is what we want. Minnesota is a very high level team. I'm sure they have big aspirations this year, and that's what we want."
With Anthony Edwards out, Alexander-Walker had an opportunity to shine. The fifth-year guard helped ignite a 15-0 run in the second quarter that helped pull Minnesota out of a slow start.
Towns scored seven straight points during that run on the way to topping 30 points for the second time this season.
"I think they had like 25 points in transition," said Jazz center Walker Kessler, who had seven points and five rebounds. "In half court, we did great. But we've got to cut down those transition points and not give them any easy fast break points."
The Wolves shot 9 of 22 in the first quarter and trailed 23-20. Towns picked up his second foul with just over five minutes to play in the period.
Alexander-Walker helped ignite a 15-0 run in the second quarter that helped pull Minnesota out of a slow start. Part of that run was an easy layup for Alexander-Walker after one of his five steals.
“I thought that his intensity on the perimeter defensively sort of set the stage for their defense," Hardy said.
Minnesota outscored Utah 35-19 in the third quarter.
The Jazz now come home to host Portland on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.