But Jefferson answered with two free throws — his double-double was his 39th this season, tying him with Boozer — and the Timberwolves never trailed again.

The two freebies, in fact, ignited Minnesota's pullaway run, one which ended with the Timberwolves up 86-76 and less than eight minutes remaining. Utah never got closer than eight the rest of the way, and Minnesota led by as many as 15 after a McCants layup with 4:02 to go.

"That's something we've seen before, and we shouldn't be demoralized," Boozer said of the Timberwolves' run. "We've played a lot of games by now. We should be able to handle that and be able to come back. But, to their credit, they took advantage of it."

The run came mostly with four Jazz subs in the lineup: Millsap, Matt Harpring, Kyle Korver and Ronnie Price. Utah's only starter on the floor at the time was center Mehmet Okur, who finished 3-of-10 from the field.

"I probably made some wrong substitutions a time or two," Sloan said. "I'm as much to blame as anybody."

The Jazz, as a result, were kicking themselves over not only this road loss, but also one last Friday to the Pacific Division cellar-dwelling Los Angeles Clippers.

"It's pretty sour," point guard Deron Williams said after an 18-point, nine-assist night that included four turnovers.

"We know (Northwest rival) Denver's been losing, so we have a chance to spread that lead out — and we're not making the most of it," he added. "We saw that New Orleans is falling, some other teams are falling, and we should be climbing up with these two wins. Instead, it's two losses to two teams that aren't even in the playoffs."

Utah also has fallen to New York and Miami — two more teams dead-last in their respective divisions.

"We just don't play as well against the teams that have bad records. I don't know why that is," Harpring said. "But we've got to figure it out. It's a tight playoff race, and we can't afford to give games up."

Williams may have the answer.

"I understand you get up for some games more than others, but you've still got to bring energy, bring intensity," he said. "It's about not being selfish, just helping each other out — and I don't think we did it as a team.

"Hopefully," he added, "we just learn that when we don't help each other out, when we're selfish, that we don't have success."

And hopefully, Williams suggested, they figure it out right away.

He figures any time before tonight's game against Central Division-leader Detroit at home, where Utah's has won 14 straight, would be good.

"We tend to play good against the Pistons," Williams said.

"But they're probably the hottest team right now, I think. Playing the best basketball in the league. This is a team that can hurt you in so many ways. So, we better be ready to play or they're gonna make us look stupid on our own floor."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com