For most of the night, it was the kind of outing Flip Saunders and Glen Taylor envisioned when they sat down this summer and tried to plot the Timberwolves' course moving forward.
But by the end, it was just another layer to the sour onion that is the 2014-15 season.
In the last game of a topsy-turvy calendar year, Minnesota's young core showed up, showed out, then folded late as the Wolves' season-worst losing streak stretched to nine games. Saunders, the club's coach and president of basketball operations, went from beaming to scowling after a manageable foe closed out a game it had lost control of at one point.
"We played well," said Saunders, whose team fell to 5-25 on the season. "This is how we've been. . . . Those guys are hurting in there. They're disappointed, because we've had a lot of games like this."
And wherever he watched from Tuesday night, owner Taylor had to be scratching his head.
Second-year swingman Shabazz Muhammad had the best night of his young career in front of 18,947 fans at Utah's EnergySolutions Arena. Rookie Andrew Wiggins did something similar. Fellow first-year man Zach LaVine orchestrated the offense well. Center Gorgui Dieng locked things down in the paint.
But the Jazz (11-21) were just a bit better.
1 big moment: After Muhammad's jumper gave Minnesota a 92-84 lead with 4:23 remaining, Utah outscored the Wolves 16-2 the rest of the way. Hayward had 11 points during that span, including a pair of free throws that made it 99-94 with 11.9 seconds left. During the final 4 minutes, Minnesota went 1 for 4 from the field and committed four turnovers.
2 top performers: They ended up swapping hats during the 2013 NBA Draft. On Tuesday, they took turns sharing the spotlight once again. Muhammad, acquired along with Dieng in last year's draft-night trade for ninth overall pick Burke, scored a career-high 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including 5 of 6 3-pointers, to go with seven rebounds and two assists. Burke, meanwhile, tied Gordon Hayward for a team-high 26 points and hit three triples of his own.
3 key stats: Muhammad (30 points, 10-of-17 shooting) and Wiggins (21, 10-19) combined for 51 of the Wolves' 94 points. The rest of their teammates combined to shoot 18 for 46 (39.1 percent) and score 43 points. Muhammad and Williams were the only Wolves players to score in double figures.
Dieng blocked two shots, the 17th time this season he's denied multiple field-goal attempts in a game. Coming into the night, the second-year center ranked 13th in the league with 1.6 blocks per game.
Point guard Ricky Rubio (sprained ankle), shooting guard Kevin Martin (fractured wrist) and Nikola Pekovic (sore ankle) missed their 25th, 20th and 21st consecutive games, respectively, due to injury.
Seen: Burke, Muhammad (drafted 14th overall) and Dieng (21st) -- the three pieces in last year's draft-night trade between the Wolves and Jazz -- all started the same game for the first time.
Said: "You need (wins) to rejuvenate yourself, the fans that are out there and they're watching and they're throwing pillows at the TV and everything else. But this is experience that a lot of these young guys -- whether it's Wig (Wiggins), 'Bazz (Muhammad), Gorgui -- they're getting experience like this that is going to be extremely beneficial. Sometimes, you learn more from mistakes than you learn from what you do right, and we've had a lot of learning experiences here lately." -- Saunders
Next: After an 0-4 road trip, the Wolves host Sacramento at 7 p.m. on Thursday for the first of four straight home contests.
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