'Playing Connected': Balanced Scoring, Team Defense Leads Mavs Past Timberwolves
Coming off a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the 116-106 final score indicated, the Dallas Mavericks got a second shot at taking down the T-Wolves at Target Center.
Although Luka Doncic and Jason Kidd didn't get thrown out of this one, the Mavs still had their hands full. After a tough back-and-forth game, Dallas eventually got some separation in the fourth quarter and ended up winning the game, 104-99. The Mavs improved to 16-16 on the year, and the T-Wolves dropped to 16-16.
"We were connected on both ends and we executed late to get the win," said coach Jason Kidd.
Doncic led the Mavs with 25 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists and three steals. He shot 8-16 from the field and 8-9 from the free-throw line with two of them being clutch free throws to essentially seal the game.
More NBA history was made on Wednesday, as Doncic became the fastest player to lead a team in points, rebounds and assists in 100 games. Doncic did it in 293 career games, passing Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic, who did it in 510 career games.
Doncic got a lot of help in this one, as four other Mavericks scored in double-digits. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Spencer Dinwiddie put up 21 and 18 points respectively. Christian Wood scored 12 points in his second time ever starting alongside Doncic, and Dwight Powell scored 10 points off the bench while pestering T-Wolves big man Rudy Gobert all game long.
Wood's offense wasn't as flashy as it's capable of being, as he only shot 5-12 on the night, but he also finished with two blocks – one of which came against Jaden McDaniels with less than two minutes to go. The rejection kept the Mavs' lead at five points.
"There were a lot of plays [that helped us win]," said Kidd. "C-Wood made a heck of a play defensively with the block there to help us get the W."
After going 0-3 from deep in Monday's game, Reggie Bullock struggled for most of Wednesday's game as well before nailing two huge corner 3s in the fourth quarter to give the Mavs a much-needed lift. He finished with eight points and six rebounds in 35 minutes as a starter.
The Mavs will conclude their four-game road trip on Friday as they take on the Houston Rockets. The Rockets are currently the worst team in the Western Conference, but as we found out in Dallas' first matchup against Houston this season, records likely don't matter in that one. We'll see if the Mavs can head into their Christmas Day matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers on a high note.
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