In this article
- Dallas Cuts It To One Before Minnesota Closes The First Half
- Minnesota Pulls Away With A 36-17 Third Quarter
- LaMelo Ball And Bones Hyland Combine For 11 3-Pointers
- Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving Shoot 9-Of-23 Against Minnesota’s Pressure
- Zaccharie Risacher Scores 22 Off The Bench
- Naji Marshall, Dusty May On Energy And Young Players
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Timberwolves scored 74 points in the paint and made 15 3-pointers on Thursday at Target Center in a 133-94 win over the Dallas Mavericks. The loss snapped Dallas’ three-game winning streak in the opener of a three-game road trip and dropped the Mavericks to 7-5.
LaMelo Ball finished with 22 points and 9 assists, and Bones Hyland scored 24 off the bench. The two went a combined 11-of-16 from 3-point range. Minnesota led by as many as 44 points and shot 57.8% from the field in front of 17,856.
At 9-3, the Timberwolves have won five straight. They did it again without Anthony Edwards, who is out after right knee arthroscopy, and Donte DiVincenzo, who is recovering from surgery on his right Achilles tendon. Minnesota is 6-2 in the games Edwards has missed this season.
Minnesota forced 19 Dallas turnovers, 10 of them on steals, and blocked 7 shots. Before he took a question, Mavericks coach Dusty May opened his postgame news conference on the Timberwolves’ defense.
“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 Cuts It To One Before Minnesota Closes The First Half
P.J. Washington scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the first quarter, and two Naji Marshall free throws with 3:05 left put Dallas ahead 24-19. That was the Mavericks’ largest lead of the night.
Minnesota scored 15 of the last 17 points of the quarter. Hyland checked in with 4:34 left and scored 8 points over the final 3:50, and Jaylen Clark hit a 24-foot 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining for a 34-26 lead.
Early in the second quarter, Dallas cut a 41-31 deficit to 43-42 with an 11-2 run. Zaccharie Risacher, who did not play in the first quarter, scored on a putback and finished a transition dunk off a Cooper Flagg steal with 6:53 left. Santi Aldama hit a 25-foot 3-pointer during the run, and Flagg scored on a layup off an Aldama steal.
From there, Minnesota closed the half on a 24-10 run. Ball scored 10 points in the quarter, including step-back 3-pointers from 25 and 27 feet in a span of 1:16, and the Timberwolves led 67-52 at halftime.
The Timberwolves entered Thursday first in the NBA in defensive rating, allowing 106.1 points per 100 possessions. Minnesota had held each of its previous four opponents to 109 points or fewer.
“Are they number one in defense efficiency in the league now?” May explained. “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.”
“We brought in our small-ball lineup and was able to make a run, and then we weren’t able to really sustain that with the same type of play,” May continued. “I thought that was big, because if we could’ve really sustained that moment and played, then it could’ve been at least more interesting, closer to half. But once they called timeout, they answered that run.”
Minnesota Pulls Away With A 36-17 Third Quarter
The third quarter went 36-17 in Minnesota’s favor. The Timberwolves opened the half on a 10-1 run to lead 77-53, and Jaden McDaniels scored 8 points with 6 rebounds in the period. Ball made both of his 3-point attempts in the quarter, including a 31-footer, and a Joan Beringer dunk with 3:06 left pushed the lead to 36. Minnesota led 103-69 after three quarters.
Dallas shot 7-of-22 in the third quarter, including 2-of-13 from 3-point range. From the moment the Mavericks pulled within 43-42 through the end of the third, Minnesota outscored them 60-27.
“The most disappointing, just the way we responded to the runs, it was probably the thing that was most disappointing,” May said. “And once the floodgates opened, they’re an explosive team. Their speed, their athleticism. And then you factor that in with the shot making. Bones comes in, goes 5-of-6. A lot of those are off the bounce from three.”
“And so it’s kind of the perfect storm where we’re not capitalizing on numbers breaks, we have a couple loose turnovers, and then they just make you pay, and then you’re playing on your heels,” May continued.
Dallas played the entire fourth quarter without Flagg, Kyrie Irving, Washington, Daniel Gafford, and Caleb Martin. Minnesota’s lead peaked at 129-85 on an Isaiah Evans layup with 2:47 left.
Rookie Morez Johnson Jr., listed as probable before the game with a left shin contusion, played 13:27 and went 0-of-4 from the field with 2 rebounds. Dallas was again without Dereck Lively II, who is out after right foot surgery, Sergio De Larrea, who has a right knee sprain, and Tarik Biberović, who has right heel bursitis.
LaMelo Ball And Bones Hyland Combine For 11 3-Pointers
Ball went 8-of-14 from the field and 6-of-10 from 3-point range in 25:19, adding 3 rebounds and 4 turnovers. He had 16 points by halftime. Five of his six 3-pointers came from 25 feet or deeper, according to the official play-by-play.
“I mean, I think that’s for us painfully obvious that he gets going like that,” May said. “He’s making shots off the dribble from 26, 28 feet. We’ve got to figure out a solution for it, but then he’s able to get in the paint and break you down when you do push up and put two on the ball. So obviously, when he has it going like that, he’s an extremely tough cover, and he played well tonight.”
Hyland finished with 24 points, 3 rebounds, and 8 assists on 7-of-10 shooting, 5-of-6 from 3-point range, and 5-of-6 at the free-throw line in 22:41. He entered the night averaging 8.5 points in 12.3 minutes. The rest of Minnesota’s roster went 4-of-16 from deep.
Ayo Dosunmu added 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting. McDaniels finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds, and Jonathan Kuminga had 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists.
Dallas allowed 24 points in the paint in the second quarter alone and trailed by 15 at halftime, after giving up 33 points in the period.
“I mean, obviously flush it emotionally, but no, even in the first half when we’re playing well, we give them a couple easy baskets by falling asleep on defense,” May said. “And those are the ones where if you’re gonna give them those types of baskets and then they’re gonna be making the step-back threes, then you’re in a tough spot. You can’t give them the baskets off of your mistakes.”
“You gotta find a way to make them earn all of them, like Melo and Bones and those guys, they earn them individually, one-on-one with great play,” May continued. “But it’s the others that we can’t get hustled, we can’t get outhustled. We can’t have numbers break turnovers, things like that.”
Ball and Hyland combined for 17 assists and 5 turnovers. Minnesota finished with 33 assists on 52 field goals.
“I feel like we let them play their basketball, and I feel like, talking about me, like, putting more pressure on the ball, like, getting physical, so they’re not as comfortable as they were,” Risacher said. “Helping each other out, I mean, that’s what we’ve been doing, and that’s how we, that’s how we won games. And I feel like we just gotta keep doing communication, playing hard on defense, playing physical, and helping each other out.”
Minnesota went 37-of-54 in the paint. Dallas scored 42 paint points on 21-of-42 shooting. The Timberwolves won second-chance scoring 25-12 and made all 10 of their second-chance field goals, even though the Mavericks grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to Minnesota’s 8.
Rudy Gobert and Beringer combined for 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, 15 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Beringer had 13 points and 9 rebounds off the bench.
“I think it’s just us. I don’t think we was connected tonight,” Marshall said. “I don’t think we followed the game plan well tonight. Coach put a very good game plan together for us, and I think we let that slip. So those are good players over there. They got some guys over there who do their thing. So it’s our job to stay connected and prevent stuff like that from happening.”
Minnesota scored 36 of its 67 first-half points in the paint. The Timberwolves shot 61.4% from the field before halftime.
“I agree. I agree,” Risacher explained. “I feel like we also got to do a better job to execute the game plan and, like, be there for each other.”
“And we’re gonna do a better job, basically,” Risacher continued.
Dallas committed 19 turnovers, including 5 by Walter Clayton Jr., and Minnesota scored 25 points off them. The Mavericks scored 29 points off Minnesota’s 17 turnovers.
“We just, we weren’t very crisp,” May said.
Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving Shoot 9-Of-23 Against Minnesota’s Pressure
Flagg finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists on 5-of-12 shooting in 27:22. Irving had 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists on 4-of-11 shooting and finished minus-36. Three nights earlier, the two combined for 78 points in a 125-122 win over the Indiana Pacers.
“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 said. “And then their second unit really, I think, injected a lot of life into them.”
Marshall finished with 13 points and 4 assists, going 4-of-10 from the field and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line. Minnesota had 10 steals, 2 each by Ball, Hyland, and Kuminga.
“This is what they do,” Marshall explained. “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 turned them into 12 points.
“I mean, we didn’t do it early enough, and they obviously just punched us in the mouth,” Marshall said.
Entering Thursday, Dallas ranked 14th in the NBA in pace at 99.2 possessions per 48 minutes. Against Minnesota, the Mavericks scored 0.703 points per possession on 91 half-court possessions, according to Synergy Sports data.
“Some better screens, more pace,” Marshall said. “That’s really about it.”
Flagg and Irving combined for 7 assists and 3 turnovers. Washington, who scored 10 points in the first quarter, did not score after it.
“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.
Gobert played 23:13 and finished with 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Dallas went 13-of-48 from 3-point range and took 56 jump shots, according to Synergy.
“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.”
Gobert, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, entered the night averaging 12.1 rebounds.
“So, like, a bit of what I said earlier, like, they’re real physical, and he’s tall, he’s a great defender,” Risacher said. “So, like, us moving the ball a little bit more and space the floor would be, like, an option, would be a great option.”
“I feel like we just keep the ball moving, passing the ball, and just keep us moving, stretching the floor,” Risacher continued. “And like I said earlier, playing with pace and playing fast, so they don’t, like, so the defense is not set already.”
Dallas scored 23 fast-break points, 11 of them in the first quarter and 2 in the fourth, while Minnesota had 26. In transition, the Mavericks scored 1.071 points per possession on 28 possessions to the Timberwolves’ 1.171 on 35, according to Synergy.
“I feel like they’re solid, they’re solid,” Risacher said. “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.”
Zaccharie Risacher Scores 22 Off The Bench
Risacher finished with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists on 9-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range, with 2 steals and a block in 24:41. He scored 11 in the fourth quarter, hitting three 3-pointers in a span of 2:39.
Acquired from the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team trade July 19, the first overall pick in the 2024 draft had made 9 of his 36 3-point attempts through 11 games before Thursday. He scored 21 points combined across his previous five games.
“I felt like I was a little frustrated by my shooting this season. I didn’t feel like I was comfortable as I used to be, and I felt like just not losing confidence and keep working made that possible,” Risacher said. “I feel like it’s just like a reflection of the work I’m putting every day. And yeah, I mean, it’s a good sign.”
Naji Marshall, Dusty May On Energy And Young Players
Thursday was the first stop on the trip for a Dallas team that entered 5-2 at home and 2-2 on the road. The Mavericks had gone two days without a game after Monday’s win over Indiana completed a back-to-back.
“Bodies started to get tired, and we just got to lock in as a team,” Marshall said. “Got to bring it every night, because we haven’t done nothing yet. It was good to get better from last season, and win some games early, but we still got to lock in every day and bring that energy.”
Dallas won 121-105 at Indiana on Oct. 23 and 113-109 at Miami on Oct. 26. Its other road losses came at Houston in the season opener and at San Antonio on Nov. 4.
Two-way players Tobi Lawal and Jett Howard played in the fourth quarter with Moussa Cissé, Marcus Sasser, and Max Christie. Lawal played all 12 minutes of the period and grabbed 6 rebounds, 5 of them offensive, and Howard hit a 24-foot 3-pointer with 1:22 left.
“A couple of them competed at high level,” May said. “I mean, at that point, you’re just, you’re looking, number one, these are great reps against a Timberwolves team, that second unit. And that’s why we play. Jaylen Clark played well.”
“So to get reps, play for our young guys, especially the two-ways and the young players, to get reps against those guys in this type of environment,” May continued. “Hopefully, we’ll improve the way they work on a daily basis, and then they’ll practice with the type of intensity that they face in the game.”
Dallas continues the trip Saturday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, with tip-off set for 6:30 p.m. CT. The Mavericks close it Sunday against the Boston Celtics at 5 p.m. CT.
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