Minnesota Timberwolves – Utah Jazz · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 28 February 2025

MIN116–117UTA

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 88% of NBA games since 2017

· The win probability swung between the two teams 17 times
· It stayed close for almost the whole game

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ UTA winsMIN wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when UTA leads and falls when MIN does.

This is how the game was decided.

John Collins decided it, the Utah Jazz player with the most points (29, with 12 rebounds and 1 assists; +11 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Walker Kessler's (+23). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Utah Jazz 117-116 Minnesota Timberwolves (February 28, 2025) was hit by Walker Kessler: a dunk with 9.1 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Utah Jazz up 117-116. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Utah Jazz 117-116 Minnesota Timberwolves (February 28, 2025) was a 14-0 run by the Utah Jazz in the third quarter (from 7:40 to 5:29), from 69-71 to 83-71. The Minnesota Timberwolves' best was a 9-0 run in the second quarter (from 6:41 to 4:46), from 50-46 to 59-46.

What were the keys of the last Utah Jazz vs Minnesota Timberwolves game?

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Walker Kessler makes 3-foot dunk (John Collins assists).

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Walker Kessler decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 9.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is the only game he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Kessler decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

28 February 2025 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401705424:677; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · MIN

Reid · Alexander-Walker · McDaniels · Conley · DiVincenzo

Closing lineup · UTA

Collier · Collins · Kessler · George · Martin

Q1Q2Q3Q4

MIN

Naz Reid

41′ · -5

Nickeil Alexander-Walker

35′ · -14

Jaden McDaniels

35′ · -14

Terrence Shannon Jr

28′ · -6

Mike Conley

24′ · -16

Donte DiVincenzo

26′ · +14

Luka Garza

18′ · +11

Jaylen Clark

16′ · +14

Rob Dillingham

18′ · +11

UTA

Isaiah Collier

30′ · +16

John Collins

27′ · +11

Walker Kessler

26′ · +23

Johnny Juzang

21′ · +12

Collin Sexton

17′ · +13

Brice Sensabaugh

23′ · -6

Keyonte George

25′ · -23

KJ Martin

22′ · -8

Cody Williams

18′ · -10

Kyle Filipowski

22′ · -22

Jaden Springer

10′ · -1

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. MIN and UTA.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Alexander-Walker, Reid, McDaniels, Shannon, and Conley played 17.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 13 points.
DiVincenzo, Reid, Garza, Clark, and Dillingham played 8.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 4 points.
DiVincenzo, Alexander-Walker, Reid, McDaniels, and Conley played 6.5 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.

Utah Jazz

Collins, Sexton, Juzang, Kessler, and Collier played 7.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 16 points.
Collins, Sexton, Springer, Collier, and Filipowski played 5.3 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.
Martin, George, Sensabaugh, Williams, and Filipowski played 4.9 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Minnesota Timberwolves

DiVincenzo, Alexander-Walker, Reid, McDaniels, and Shannon played 3.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Alexander-Walker, McDaniels, Shannon, Garza, and Dillingham played 2.6 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
DiVincenzo, Alexander-Walker, McDaniels, Garza, and Clark played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
DiVincenzo, McDaniels, Garza, Clark, and Dillingham played 1.6 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
DiVincenzo, Reid, Shannon, Clark, and Dillingham played 1.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.
DiVincenzo, Alexander-Walker, Reid, Garza, and Clark played 1.4 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Alexander-Walker, Reid, McDaniels, Shannon, and Dillingham played 1.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.

Utah Jazz

Martin, Springer, George, Williams, and Filipowski played 4.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Martin, Kessler, George, Sensabaugh, and Williams played 4.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Collins, Juzang, Kessler, Sensabaugh, and Collier played 3.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.
Collins, Kessler, George, Williams, and Collier played 3.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Collins, Sexton, Juzang, Collier, and Filipowski played 3.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 8 points.
Collins, Kessler, George, Sensabaugh, and Collier played 2.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 8 points.
Martin, Juzang, George, Sensabaugh, and Filipowski played 2.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Martin, Juzang, Kessler, George, and Sensabaugh played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.
Martin, Juzang, Sensabaugh, Collier, and Filipowski played 1.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Martin, Kessler, Sensabaugh, Williams, and Collier played 1.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 7 points.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Naz Reid covered 4.49 km, more than anyone in the game.

Naz Reid touched the ball 84 times, a game high.
Isaiah Collier made 64 passes, a game high.
Naz Reid defended 14 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 9.
Naz Reid had 25 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Minnesota Timberwolves

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Naz Reid	4.49	6.7	84	62
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	4.22	7.4	51	44
Jaden McDaniels	4.14	7.2	47	36
Terrence Shannon Jr	3.19	6.9	36	19
Donte DiVincenzo	2.82	6.7	58	49
Mike Conley	2.75	7.1	47	43
Luka Garza	2.25	7.9	20	12
Rob Dillingham	2.11	7.2	29	28
Jaylen Clark	1.87	7.3	8	6

Utah Jazz

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Isaiah Collier	3.67	7.4	75	64
John Collins	3.17	7.2	58	27
Walker Kessler	2.94	7.0	35	25
Johnny Juzang	2.83	8.0	24	20
Kyle Filipowski	2.67	7.3	49

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2024-25 regular season, not this game.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Luka Garza drew 0.12 charges per game over his 33 games.
He ranks 30 of 388 in the league.
Jaden McDaniels deflected 2.7 passes per game over his 82 games.
He ranks 35 of 388 in the league.
Mike Conley drew 0.10 charges per game over his 71 games.
He ranks 37 of 388 in the league.

Utah Jazz

Walker Kessler contested 12.9 shots per game over his 58 games.
He ranks 2 of 388 in the league.
Keyonte George drew 0.07 charges per game over his 67 games.
He ranks 57 of 388 in the league.
John Collins recovered 0.7 loose balls per game over his 40 games.
He ranks 58 of 388 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Utah Jazz have won 65 of their 116 games against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

65-51record of the Utah Jazz · NBA 1996-97 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

1-3in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1996-97 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

18.175

99.3% of capacity

Delta Center · Salt Lake City

Scoring

233

combined points

5.3 above the season average (227.7)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

11 calls reviewed1 errors admitted by the NBA

Foul: Offensive · 01:20.7

Walker Kessler → Nickeil Alexander-Walker

Kessler (UTA) establishes himself in a wide stance in Alexander-Walker's (MIN) path, and he delivers illegal contact to Alexander-Walker that affects ability to defend.