Dosunmu Scored 26 as Minnesota Beat Utah 115-100 for a Fourth Straight Win

MINNEAPOLIS

Minnesota turned the ball over 22 times Sunday night and won by 15 anyway. Utah kept getting the ball back and kept giving the game back with it — at the rim, where Rudy Gobert was waiting, and in the open floor, where the Timberwolves turned Jazz mistakes into 27 fast-break points. The Jazz were within six at halftime and still hanging around deep into the third quarter. Then the bench took the game away from them.

The end of the third quarter belonged to the second unit. Bones Hyland scored on two layups and two free throws. Jaden McDaniels hit a three. Joan Beringer — playing with a broken nose he suffered two nights earlier against New Orleans — dunked, and Jaylen Clark's three free throws finished a 12-4 run that sent Minnesota to the fourth up 90-78. Every member of that second group finished at least plus-11. Trey Lyles was plus-29 in 21 minutes.

Ayo Dosunmu led everyone with 26 points on 7-for-13 shooting. He went 4-for-5 from three and 8-for-8 at the line on a night Minnesota — the league's worst free-throw team coming in at .648 — made 27 of 32. Dosunmu has now scored 20 or more in five of the seven games since Anthony Edwards went down, and the Wolves are 5-2 without their star.

LaMelo Ball added 24 points and five assists. His three at 6:37 of the third put Minnesota ahead for good, and a few possessions later he picked a pass at midcourt and cruised in alone for the dunk that made it 70-63 and brought Target Center to its feet. Gobert finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds without missing a shot. McDaniels had 16.

The rookie on the other side matched him

Utah had its moments early. The Jazz led 18-12 in the first quarter before Lyles beat the buzzer from three to close the period, and a Jaxson Hayes alley-oop cut the lead to three in the final minute of the half. Hayes scored 18 points without a miss, going 6-for-6. The bright spot was the rookie: Darryn Peterson, the No. 2 overall pick, scored a career-high 26 on 11-for-21 shooting, with four threes and six rebounds.

Two players finished with 26, and the difference between their nights is the difference between the teams. Dosunmu needed 13 shots and lived at the line; Peterson needed 21 shots and never got to the line once. One had Gobert behind him and a bench whose every member finished at least plus-11. The other had a short-handed roster and a losing streak. Peterson's line travels — a career high, on the road, for a team that has lost eight straight. It just ran into a team that is winning these games on depth while its best player heals.

Keyonte George had 19 points and eight assists for Utah even after spraining his right ankle — he went back to the locker room, then returned and finished the game. It still added up to a ninth loss in ten games for the Jazz, and an eighth in a row.

Minnesota shot 49.4 percent as a team and 12-for-32 from three. The number that jumps off the page is the free-throw line: a team that walked in as the worst in the league at .648 went 27-for-32, and Dosunmu's 8-for-8 led it. The turnovers say the Wolves were loose with the game. The scoreboard says it never cost them.

Elsewhere Tonight

• Philadelphia 127, Chicago 121 — Jaylen Brown scored 29 for the 76ers and Tyrese Maxey 27; Josh Giddey had 19 points and 15 assists for Chicago.
• Lakers 121, Detroit 116 — Austin Reaves scored 43 without Luka Dončić, and Los Angeles held off the Pistons; Previously covered it as its own story tonight.
• Dallas 130, Brooklyn 93 — Cooper Flagg finished with 25 points and 12 assists in a 37-point Mavericks win.
• Boston 117, Milwaukee 97 — Paul George scored 27 for the Celtics; Kyle Kuzma scored 27 for the Bucks.
• LA Clippers 139, New Orleans 123 — Darius Garland had 24 points and 10 assists; Zion Williamson scored 25 for the Pelicans.
• Miami 114, Sacramento 108 — rookie Darius Acuff Jr. scored 32 with 10 assists for Sacramento; Giannis Antetokounmpo had 29 points and 14 rebounds for Miami.

The win opened a franchise-record eight-game homestand, and Minnesota is 8-3 with four straight wins, none of them requiring Edwards. Dallas comes to Target Center on Thursday. The way the fill-ins are playing, there is no rush.

Full box score and play-by-play: Game Center — Jazz at Timberwolves · More NBA: the NBA hub