Utah Jazz hope to answer Q's about pesky T-Wolves

SALT LAKE CITY — The first of many questions about Minnesota — ones kinda like "Why in the heck can't you guys beat those lowly cellar-dwellers?!" — came moments after the Utah Jazz beat the Philadelphia 76ers.

That, you might recall, was last Saturday night.

Coach Jerry Sloan gave his players Sunday off — to rest their bodies and perhaps to shield them from additional queries about a pesky team up north.

But that only delayed the next round of questions about Minnesota until Monday morning.

Another wave of — you guessed it — questions about Minnesota hit the Jazz at their practice facility on Tuesday.

By now — after a four-day break in the schedule ahead of tonight's road game against the Timberwolves — the Jazz just might be more tired of answering questions about Minnesota than they are bugged about why in the heck they haven't been able to beat those lowly cellar-dwellers three times in a row.

"I am," Jazz forward Carlos Boozer answered when asked if he's sick of hearing about Minnesota. "But we put ourselves in this position. If we had beat them, y'all wouldn't be talking about it. (But) we lost, so you guys are."

So, too, are the Jazz — whether they want to be or not.

"Minnesota who?" Deron Williams joked before complimenting the T-Wolves.

One thing the Jazz do want to do, though, is figure out a way to get past the T-Wolves.

Minnesota only had seven wins going into its game at San Antonio on Tuesday, but two came against Utah in nine days earlier this month — one a runaway 108-101 victory at the Target Center, the other a come-from-behind 110-108 thriller at EnergySolutions Arena.

"They definitely have our number this year," Boozer said. "And we look forward to playing against them again."

The Jazz also are hoping they'll provide more answers than questions with their play tonight as they try to end an up-and-down month on a high note with seemingly winnable back-to-back games in Minnesota and Oklahoma City.

"We have to do our thing," Sloan insisted.

But that's something that hasn't happened yet — for whatever reason — against the Western Conference's worst team.