Jazz at Timberwolves - 11/14/03 (Carlos Arroyo 30 pts)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ม.ค. 2012
- Carlos Arroyo scored a career-high 30 points as the no-name Utah Jazz shocked the Minnesota Timberwolves for the second time in 2 weeks, winning 85-77 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Matt Harpring chipped in 12 points, Andrei Kirilenko scored 11 and Raja Bell added 10 for the Jazz, who blew opened up a 21-point lead in the 2nd-qtr that Minnesota trimmed to 13 at halftime. The 3rd-qtr featured back-to-back spetacular coast-to-coast plays by DeShawn Stevenson and Carlos Arroyo (5:21-mark) which re-opened the 21-point lead and brought the boo birds out at Target Center.
Kevin Garnett led Minnesota with a terrific all-around performance netting 23 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 blocks, but received little help from his teammates - with only Fred Hoiberg (14 pts) and Sam Cassell (10 pts) joining KG in double-figure.
Following the departures of John Stockton and Karl Malone, experts were lining up to pick the Jazz as the worst team in the league:
-ESPN's Marc Stein ranked the Jazz dead-last and wrote: "Poor Sloan and the Jazz faithful are in for a culture shock."
-ESPN contributor Frank Hughes wrote the Jazz "could be the worst team in NBA history." He continued "I don't mean like [LA] Clippers bad. I mean like 9-win Philadelphia 76ers bad."
-ESPN's Chad Ford wrote even the aquistion of Keon Clark (who played all of 2 games for Utah) "won't be enough to keep Utah from having the worst record in the league."
Fortunately for the Jazz, they still had longtime coaches Jerry Sloan and Phil Johnson - and with a cast comprised largely of no-name players, shocked the NBA by winning 42-games, finishing just 1-win shy of making the playoffs. The Timberwolves would finish 58-24 and advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history.
Minnesota Starters:
PG Sam Cassell
SG Latrell Sprewell
SF Trenton Hassell
PF Kevin Garnett
C Michael Olowokandi
Utah Starters:
PG Carlos Arroyo
SG DeShawn Stevenson
SF Matt Harpring
PF Andrei Kirilenko
C Greg Ostertag
