The Minnesota Timberwolves have now lost three games in a row and while those first two losses were more forgivable against tough opponents in the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs, their most recent loss against the 15-29 Utah Jazz is tougher to swallow.

The Jazz bested the Timberwolves 127-122 on Tuesday night. Keyonte George scored a career-high 43 points to lead the Jazz to victory while Jusuf Nurkic turned in a 16 point, 18 rebound and 10 assist triple-double to give the Jazz a massive edge against the usually dominant Timberwolves. 

The Timberwolves and Jazz were nearly identical in most stat categories, but the Jazz triumphed when it came to the efficiency battle. Despite taking 13 less shots than the Timberwolves, the Jazz ended up making four more overall. 

Utah shot a clean 55% from the field and 12-29 from three point range and while Utah trailed for most of the game, a resurgent 43 point fourth quarter was more than enough for the Jazz to sneak in a take a win away from the Timberwolves. 

Even though the Timberwolves had slightly more rebounds than the Jazz did, he real difference maker was in defensive rebounds specifically. 37 of the Jazz's 45 rebounds were defensive boards, which was a crucial difference maker in their ability to limit the Timberwolves' overall shot opportunities.

Utah's efficiency paired with the team's ability to limit Minnesota's second-chance opportunities mean that the Timberwolves could never truly run away with the game, and that limited distance proved crucial in the Jazz's eventual comeback win. 

While a loss to the struggling Jazz would hurt bad enough on it's own, it also meant that the Timberwolves wasted one of Anthony Edwards' most complete games. 

Edwards scored 38 points while shooting 11-28 from the field while also turning in eight rebounds and three assists. Edwards was just one of two Timberwolves to have a plus rating in the game and he was the lone starter with that designation. 

It was Edwards' first big performance since the All-Star starting lineups were announced and he wasn't on it despite having a career-best scoring season. 

If his performance on Tuesday was any indication, he's taking the snub personally. 

Minnesota may be in the midst of a tough stretch of losses at the moment, but their overall play in the past few weeks has been solid.

They're 6-4 in the month of January due to their recent losing streak and all it would take os a recovery from so many consecutive losses for them to remain one of the premier contending teams in the NBA.

Competition is tough in the Western Conference and tougher still in the Northwest Division, as the Timberwolves have both the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder to directly contend with, but with Edwards at the helm and playing at his current level, the Timberwolves certainly can't be counted out.