It wasn't a lack of love that had the Timberwolves moping home again Sunday, dragging a seventh consecutive defeat and a whole new perspective -- sixth place, Western Conference -- out of Target Center after a 96-89 loss to the Utah Jazz on Sunday afternoon.

Not long before tipoff, team owner Glen Taylor had sought out as many players as he could, one or two at a time, putting his arms around them and trying to buoy their spirits. "You've heard this a thousand times," Taylor said over and over, "but keep your heads up . . ."

With a payroll cost upwards of $600,000 per defeat, Taylor had every right to act like George Steinbrenner, Mr. Dithers or a boss straight out of "Dilbert." Instead, he dipped into the coaches' office, presumably to say something similarly inspiring.

The home crowd was there for them, too, standing, cheering and applauding at the start of the fourth quarter, despite a tailspin over the previous 12 minutes that handed control of the game to the Jazz. Leading 42-39 at halftime, the Wolves got outrebounded 13-2, allowed 10-for-16 shooting, missed 13 of 20 shots and got outscored 17-6 in the middle of the period.

That gave Utah a 64-58 lead to work with heading into the last quarter, and it was as invigorating as a Ponce de Leon spritzer to oldies Karl Malone and John Stockton. They combined for 21 of the Jazz's 32 points from there. Stockton picked apart the Wolves on the perimeter and went 6-for-6 from the line (Utah was 15-for-15 in the fourth), while Malone outscored Kevin Garnett 11-7 and twice swatted the ball out of the younger man's hands down the stretch.

Six times in the quarter, Utah countered Wolves' mini-comebacks by nudging its lead back to eight points. Malone's strips came on consecutive possessions after the Wolves had closed to 86-83 with 2:29 left. The next time they touched the ball, they were down seven.