Minnesota @ Utah preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 14, 2019 ) Minnesota 100, Utah 120

A pair of teams looking to rebound from difficult losses will meet twice in a span of three days, beginning with the Minnesota Timberwolves' visit to the Utah Jazz on Monday. The Jazz, who visit Minnesota on Wednesday, saw their four-game winning streak snapped in a one-point loss at Memphis on Friday.

The Timberwolves, meanwhile capped a 1-2 homestand with a 20-point loss to Houston on Saturday while star forward Andrew Wiggins sat out his second straight game for personal reasons. "I'm a no-excuse person," Minnesota coach Ryan Saunders told reporters. "Who's on the court is on the court. But we have to do more things to make teams like that uncomfortable." Utah got three players over 20 points in the loss to the Grizzlies, but guard Mike Conley shot 5-for-19 from the floor in his return to Memphis. "It's hard, man," Conley told reporters of trying to concentrate in the first game back to the where he starred for many seasons. "I came in thinking that I could stick to just work and make it a businesslike trip, and then immediately when I got here, everybody I saw was somebody I knew."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah)

ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (7-6): Jake Layman made his first start of the season count with a season-high 21 points in the loss to the Rockets. Karl-Anthony Towns led the way with 27 points and 15 rebounds while Robert Covington added 17 points, but a 49-point effort by Houston's James Harden and 50.9 percent shooting by his teammates was too much to overcome. "He scored [49] on 41 shots," Covington told reporters of Harden. "That's what we want. But it's just the other guys hurt us. We followed the game plan with him."

ABOUT THE JAZZ (8-4): Guard Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points and hauled in a season-high nine rebounds in Friday's loss and he's averaging 26.4 points, 5.9 boards and five assists this month. "I think I have a lot more to improve on," Mitchell told The Salt Lake Tribune. "There's a lot more to be where I want to be at. I've made leaps. But there's more I can do, for sure." Mitchell averaged 25.8 points and 6.8 assists in four matchups with the Timberwolves last season.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Timberwolves SF Kelan Martin is 0-for-11 from 3-point range in three games this season.

2. Jazz PG Dante Exum (knee) was active for the first time in Friday's game but did not see any action.

3. Utah took three of four meetings in 2018-19.

PREDICTION: Jazz 116, Timberwolves 107