By james art The Dallas Mavericks travel north to play the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second night of a back-to-back. This is the first rematch since last year’s Western Conference Finals and the Wolves were looking to make up for last season’s disappointment.
Both teams started their usual lineups, with Dallas going with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford, and the Timberwolves with Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle and Rudy Gober. Their addition of Randle came right before the season started, so they’re still working out the kinks there.
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Anthony Edwards started the game with a layup on Irving, redeeming himself from Irving before last year’s series, and then finished with a slick layup on the other end. Dallas’ next eight points came in the paint, unafraid of Gobert’s presence. Edwards had 10 of Minnesota’s first 12 points to give them a 12-11 lead, but Dallas answered right back with a Gafford dunk.
The next few minutes were back and forth. Randle hit a 3-pointer to put the TWolves ahead, then Luka Doncic answered with a layup through contact (no foul) to tie it, Jaden McDaniels answered with an easy double, then Doncic got a layup and a back-to-back end, for to send the game to its first timeout.
Jason Kidd was forced to take a timeout after Anthony Edwards hit his fourth 3-pointer of the quarter, giving him 17 of Minnesota’s first 27 points. He was already 6/8 off the floor and he could absolutely feel it. That hot streak only continued after the timeout, as he scored a total of 24 points in the opening frame to give the Wolves a 34-26 lead in the second. Dallas hung around for most of the quarter, but collapsed in the final few minutes.
Minnesota opened up a 10-point lead to start the second quarter after Daniel Gafford left the game with an apparent lower leg injury (he would return later) and Dallas suffered a rare stretch of back-to-back losses. However, a layup by PJ Washington and a three by Kyrie Irving would quickly bring the game back to within five points. At that point, Minnesota had made ten 3-pointers to Dallas’ three, but the game was still within striking distance.
Dallas would take the lead with just over 4:30 left in the period after a transition three by PJ Washington and then Luka Doncic lobbing Derek Lively II. A technical free throw and a 3-pointer by Klay Thompson extended the Mavs’ lead to five to give them their biggest lead yet. A few baskets later, Randle regained the lead for Minnesota before Washington answered with a 3-pointer on the other end.
Luka Doncic would head to the locker room minutes before halftime with an apparent lower leg injury, but the Mavs were able to hold on to a 61-59 lead at the break. He led the team with 13 points, but Washington, Gafford and Irving were also in double figures. After 24 points in the first quarter, Edwards was held scoreless in the second quarter, taking just one shot.
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Doncic came out of the locker room to start the second half, but Minnesota scored the first ten points to take a 69-61 lead before Coach Kidd called a timeout. But a couple of 3-pointers by PJ Washington and Kyrie Irving, then an Irving layup, cut the lead back to two. Irving pushed them back with a 3-pointer.
Minnesota went ice cold in the middle part of the period, going 1/8 down the stretch, allowing Dallas to go up by seven after Quentin Grimes’ second 3-pointer of the night. He scored three more on Minnesota penalties to give the Mavs their biggest lead of the night at eight. Another three by Kyrie Irving extended the lead even further to 11. Heading into the 4th, Dallas had taken a commanding 93-82 lead.
Naz Reed and Luka Doncic traded buckets to start the fourth quarter. Minnesota began to chip away at the lead with Nikale Alexander-Walker and Jaden McDaniels hitting 3-pointers to cut the lead to five, but Kyrie Irving did a tremendous job of keeping the offense afloat.
With five minutes to go, Dallas led by five. Alexander-Walker hit a quick layup to cut the lead to three, but was answered by Irving with a tough layup the other way. McDaniels, who got loose for a wide-open layup, forced a Mavs timeout with four minutes left. After the timeout, they lost Washington to a wide-open lob, and Minnesota took a timeout soon after to take the lead in the final three minutes of the game.
Rudy Gober cut the lead to two on penalties, but Kyrie Irving felt it and hit a three in the late clock over Randle to push the lead back to five. A few possessions later, the refs called PJ Washington out of bounds on an offensive rebound, which led to Luka Doncic hitting a BOMB from ten feet behind the three-point line, pushing the lead back to eight with just over a minute left. It was his first and only one to make three of the night.
Anthony Edwards hit a big 3-pointer to cut the lead to four in the final 30 seconds, and Kyrie Irving missed both free throws to make the game interesting, but Naji Marshall reached in Edwards’ pocket and hit both free throws the other way. to push the lead back to six with 12.6 seconds remaining. That would be enough for Dallas to win 120-114 and move to 3-1 on the season.
Three-point defense and free throw line deflections were the biggest concerns for Dallas coming into this game. Minnesota was red-hot from deep all game, finishing 19/39 from behind the arc, and the Mavs gave up at least three offensive rebounds off missed free throws, and that almost always leads to points.
The biggest difference in the game was turnovers, with Minnesota turning over 20 times to Dallas’ nine. In the second half alone, it was 10-1, the Dallas advantage.
Kyrie Irving led the Mavericks with 35 points, and after struggling in the first half, Doncic bounced back a bit to finish with 24 points, adding eight rebounds and nine assists. PJ Washington (17 points, eight rebounds) and Daniel Gafford (14 points) also finished in double figures, with Derek Lively II adding nine rebounds and three steals.
Minnesota was led by 37 points from Anthony Edwards, who cooled off after a scorching first quarter. The Timberwolves had four other players in double figures to help as well: Julius Randle (20 points), Naz Reed (14), Jaden McDaniels (13) and Nikale Alexander-Walker (11).
The Mavericks return home to play the Rockets on Thursday night.
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