The Timberwolves ran crisp sets and were eager to make the extra pass

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SALT LAKE CITY -- When the Minnesota Timberwolves were mired in a slump, they figured theyd get back to winning if they shed some sweat. Nike Air Max 95 Nz . They never thought it would take some blood, too. Kevin Love grabbed his 4,000th career rebound as part of a 19-point, 13-board effort to lead the Timberwolves over the Utah Jazz 112-97 on Tuesday night. Along the way to sweeping a home-and-home set against the Jazz, Alexey Shved left with a broken nose and Kevin Martin sliced open his right pinkie. "Its crazy. I cant remember two people bleeding like that in the same game," said Nikola Pekovic, who had 18 points and nine rebounds. Love leads the league with 35 double-doubles but he thought it was passing and teamwork that sealed a sweep of the home-and-home set with the Jazz. "Ive been passing the ball all season and guys were converting," said Love, who had eight assists. "I didnt get too many looks and didnt convert many from the 3-point line so I had to figure other ways to be effective." Ricky Rubio has returned to his spontaneous, free-flowing style and had 11 points and 13 assists for the Wolves, who snapped a seven-game losing streak in Utah. "Tonight was a pure team effort," Pekovic said. "We are all good friends between us. On the good nights everything is fine, of course." It was another good night for Minnesota as Corey Brewer scored 19 points and Martin contributed 18. Each time the Jazz threatened to get close in the fourth quarter, J.J. Barea hit big baskets and finished with 15 points to keep the Jazz at bay. "I think we needed that win (on Saturday) and we had a great team effort defensively. It carried on to tonight," Barea said. Gordon Hayward returned from a five-game absence to lead the Jazz with 27 points, but he was the only starter in double figures. The Jazz went 2-3 in Haywards absence, including a 98-72 road loss to Minnesota where Utah set a record for worst field goal percentage in franchise history at 28.8 per cent. "It felt good to be back out there," Hayward said. "But we just didnt get stops tonight. They were too effective offensively." A team that seemed disjointed and frustrated during a three-game losing streak a week ago, the Timberwolves apparently needed a couple of matchups with the Jazz to break out of the funk. The Timberwolves ran crisp sets and were eager to make the extra pass to wide-open teammates. Minnesota led 84-62 at the end of three quarters as it assisted on 23 of its first 30 field goals. Picking up right where they left off on Saturday, the Wolves using a 17-2 run in the first quarter to stake a commanding lead that ballooned to 18 points. Love hit a 3-pointer and Brewer dunked to make the score 30-12 in the first quarter. "I was pleased with the way we came out and controlled the game from beginning to end," Minnesota coach Rick Adelman said. "I thought (the Jazz) would come out with so much energy at the start of the game." Instead the Timberwolves made the Jazz look flat and flustered and soon they were on their way to consecutive wins for the first time since they beat Washington and Milwaukee on Dec. 27-28. Hayward was having the best three-game set of his career before injuring his left hip and being sidelined five games. But he scored early and often despite the layoff. His teammates, though, seemed powerless to stop Minnesotas attack. Alec Burks had 18 points but the Jazz missed starting centre Derrick Favours, who was out with a right hip injury. "Defensively, he protects the rim for us," Utah coach Ty Corbin said. "We missed that." Of course, Minnesotas plan to was get the ball to Love and Pekovic. "We knew we had the advantage against them inside. After last game, we wanted to keep doing that. We had a nice balance of looking at those two guys, plus getting other open looks," Adelman said. After losing 14 of their first 15 games, the Jazz have been playing about .500 and hadnt lost two consecutive since losing to San Antonio and Miami on Dec. 14 and 16. The Timberwolves were again the aggressors against the Jazz and made 22 of 24 free throws. Haywards 3-pointer drew the Jazz 58-47, but Minnesota responded with a 10-0 surge that ended with Martins three-point play. NOTES: The Timberwolves wore their black short-sleeved uniforms. . The Jazz had three points nullified in the third quarter because Trey Burkes 3-pointer came after the shot clock expired, the ruling came during a time out more than four minutes of elapsed game time after the shot. . The Jazz are 1-18 when Enes Kanter starts. He had four points and six rebounds. Cheap Nike Air Max 90 NZ . -- Edmontons Val Sweeting is two wins away from a trip to Winnipeg to play in Canadas Road of the Rings in December. Nike Air Max 2016 Red . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. http://www.air-max90nz.com/nike-air-max-90-nz/nike-air-max-90-black.html . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. OTTAWA -- Craig Anderson and the Ottawa Senators made a statement heading into the holiday break. Anderson stopped 27 shots for his second shutout of the season as Ottawa defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 on Monday. "We definitely had one of our better games this year and we played our most consistent game, playing hard-nosed and in their face," Anderson said. "We know they have a good team and they bring it every night and they do things right 99 per cent of the time so we found a way to win the game and do it with conviction." Senators head coach Paul MacLean was pleased with the timing of the emphatic victory. "Its the best way we possibly could (head into the break)," said MacLean. "If we were looking for something under the tree that could be a motivator for us and a feel-good thing for us, beating Pittsburgh 5-0 we can head into this three-day break with a positive attitude." The game was relatively close after two periods but the Senators dominated the Penguins in the third, outshooting them 15-9 while getting goals from Erik Karlsson, Kyle Turris and Cory Conacher. Zack Smith and Bobby Ryan also scored for the Senators (15-17-7) and Anderson earned the 24th shutout of his career. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves for the Penguins (27-22-1), but saw his personal five-game winning streak come to an end. The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Senators with all three of those losses coming in Ottawa since they beat the St. Louis Blues last Monday, also at the Canadian Tire Centre. "I thought our response to the game tonight was workman like and our penalty killers did yeomen work and the difference in the game was that we obviously killed off those power plays," said MacLean after his team survived all seven short-handed situations, while scoring once in three power-play opportunities themselves. The Penguins had won 12 of their last 13 games in Ottawa, including seven in a row. Pittsburgh had only been shut out once this season as they fell 1-0 at home to the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 21. The shutout was the first for the Senators since they blanked the Buffalo Sabres 1-0 in their first game of the season. Defenceman Marc Methot set an early tone that it was going to be a physical night. With the Penguins breaking towards the Ottawa goal, Methot took Sidney Crosby out with a hard hip check. Crosby wasnt hurt on the play but his spinning body was catapulted into Pascal Dupuis who went down and hit hard into the end boards. Dupuis left the game with what was later described as a lower body injury and did not return. Nike Air Max 90 On Sale. Crosby was mostly ineffective the rest of the game and his immediate reaction after the game was not a good one. "I havent seen the replay. I dont know how low it was. He almost blew my knee out so it was pretty low," Crosby said. "I dont know if it was right above my knee or above my hip, but it was awfully close." Methot politely disagreed. "I have a ton of respect for that player," said Methot. "I think hes one of the best players in the world and you have to play him hard and that was our goal." The two players had a lengthy discussion before play resumed while Dupuis was attended to behind the net. "He wasnt happy about it and I wouldnt be happy either so I dont blame him for coming at me a bit," said Methot. "I thought it was a clean hit. Ive been throwing hip checks my whole career and Im six-foot three and I dont think I can get much lower than his knees." Smith opened the scoring at 6:54 of the first period when he put a backhand in a very small opening between Fleurys left skate and the post after the Penguins netminder made a pad save on Cody Ceci. Anderson held Pittsburgh at bay and stopped two Penguins on breakaways in the second period, including one shorthanded by Brandon Sutter. The other was a glove save off James Neal. In between those breakaways, Ryan scored his first goal in four games when he directed a point shot from Chris Phillips past Fleury at 5:56. It came on the same power play that the Senators surrendered on Sutters breakaway. "A big part of the game was when they get the power play goal to go up 2-0 and we have several chances on the power play," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "We had several good opportunities to score but we dont cash in and certainly the game turns on that stretch where we had three power plays in the second and we dont get a goal." The Penguins head into the break leading the eastern Conference while the Senators are in 10th place four points out of a playoff spot. Notes- Patrick Wiercioch, Joe Corvo and Mika Zibanejad were scratches for the Senators Monday and for the Penguins, Deryk Engelland, Brian Gibbons and Evgeni Malkin were scratchesaOttawa is now 7-1-3 this season when leading a game after two periodaSenators defenceman Chris Phillips snapped a 10-game pointless streak with a second-period assistaSidney Crosby at least one point in 31 of Pittsburghs 39 games this seasonaMarc-Andre Fleury has played 499 career games, all with the PenguinsaPenguins forward Chris Cooner turned 30 on Monday. cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '