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MINNEAPOLIS — Three nights after Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving combined for 78 points in a 125-122 win over Indiana, the Minnesota Timberwolves held the pair to 22 on 9-of-23 shooting Thursday in a 133-94 win over the Dallas Mavericks at Target Center.
Flagg finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists in 27:22. Irving had 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists and finished minus-36. Neither played in the fourth quarter of the 133-94 loss, which ended Dallas’ three-game winning streak and dropped the Mavericks to 7-5.
Minnesota forced 19 turnovers, recorded 10 steals, and blocked 7 shots. Mavericks coach Dusty May opened his postgame news conference on that defense before he took a question.
“We’ll give Minnesota credit,” May said. “I thought their point of attack defense, their activity on and off the ball was extremely disruptive, and they deserved to win the way they did tonight.”
Dallas scored 0.703 points per possession on 91 half-court possessions, according to Synergy Sports data. On pick-and-roll plays in which the ball handler shot, turned it over, or passed, the Mavericks scored 0.778 points per possession across 45 trips, and 0.524 on the 21 where Minnesota kept a single defender on the ball.
“They had one body on them before they even crossed half-court, and we weren’t able to get clean catches, and we weren’t able to leverage that attention to generate anything else offensively,” May explained. “And then their second unit really, I think, injected a lot of life into them.”
Dusty May On Facing The NBA’s Top-Ranked Defense
The Timberwolves entered Thursday first in the NBA in defensive rating, allowing 106.1 points per 100 possessions. They had held each of their previous four opponents to 109 points or fewer.
“Are they number one in defense efficiency in the league now?” May said. “I mean, when you’re number one in this league in anything, you’re pretty proficient in that area. When you just look at their team speed and the way, the intensity that they’re playing with, and then obviously it’s a luxury to have two rim protectors behind you.”
Rudy Gobert and Joan Beringer combined for 5 blocks and 15 rebounds. Dallas went 21-of-42 in the paint and 13-of-48 from 3-point range, and Synergy charted 56 Mavericks jump shots.
“I thought we were a little bit impatient once they started making shots,” May said. “We didn’t work for great ones. We kind of settled for somewhat good ones, and then it became contagious. I thought we tried to match their play individually instead of just continuing to trust each other collectively.”
Out of timeouts, Dallas scored 0.583 points per possession, according to Synergy. Minnesota scored 1.500 on 12 such possessions.
Naji Marshall, Zaccharie Risacher On Creating Space
Naji Marshall finished with 13 points and 4 assists, going 4-of-4 at the free-throw line. Minnesota had 10 steals, 2 each by LaMelo Ball, Bones Hyland, and Jonathan Kuminga.
“This is what they do,” Marshall said. “It was physical at the point of attack from the beginning, and I think that’s just how we got to play.”
Dallas trailed 34-26 after one quarter and 67-52 at halftime. The Mavericks committed 8 first-half turnovers, and Minnesota scored 12 points off them.
“I mean, we didn’t do it early enough, and they obviously just punched us in the mouth,” Marshall explained.
Entering Thursday, Dallas ranked 14th in the NBA in pace at 99.2 possessions per 48 minutes. The Mavericks scored 1.071 points per possession on 28 transition possessions against Minnesota, according to Synergy, compared with 0.703 in the half-court. Synergy logged 1 Dallas possession coming off screens, which produced no points, and 6 out of handoffs.
“Some better screens, more pace,” Marshall said. “That’s really about it.”
Flagg and Irving combined for 7 assists and 3 turnovers. Zaccharie Risacher scored 22 points off the bench, 11 of them in the fourth quarter, with Flagg and Irving on the bench for the night.
“So, like, the communication gotta be a little bit better between every one of us,” Risacher said. “We talked about it in the locker room, and that’s why it’s great about this team. We can talk to each other with no filter. Nobody is mad or anything.”
“We just got good communication, and I felt like we should have done a better job earlier in the game,” Risacher continued.
Dallas scored 23 fast-break points, 11 of them in the first quarter. Minnesota scored 26.
“I feel like they’re solid, they’re solid,” Risacher explained. “Like I said, we let them play their game, and I feel like playing with movements, transition, passing the ball will be the best for us.”
Dallas continues its three-game road trip Saturday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, with tip-off set for 6:30 p.m. CT, and closes it Sunday against the Boston Celtics at 5 p.m. CT.
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