Mavs Reign In Timberwolves: Mavericks 125 Timberwolves 112

For unexplainable reasons, the lowly 14-50 Timberwolves, who sit at the bottom of the Western Conference, have presented all kinds of trouble for the playoff-bound Mavericks, now owners of a 12-game winning streak.

Case and point: The Timberwolves shocked a discombobulated Mavericks team at the American Airlines Center, winning 117-108 on February 5th. Just five days ago, the Mavericks once again barely escaped at home, with a 112-109 victory that went down to the final seconds.

Monday night’s game started down a similar path. The Timberwolves found themselves up by 10 early at 19-9. But that’s where the script changes. Sick of getting stuck in the middle of tight contests with the lesser Timberwolves, the Mavs sculpted a 25-8 run without Dirk Nowitzki on the floor. Tagged with two fouls just 1:39 into the game, Nowitzki found himself on the sidelines for the rest of the first quarter. Shawn Marion began the run and netted 10 points in the first quarter en route to a season’s-best 29 points to go with 14 rebounds for a double-double. Jason Kidd and Caron Butler each recorded seven points in the opening frame.

Any Timberwolves’ advantage became a distant memory as Nowitzki returned to the floor in the second quarter and found the basket for 12 points in about seven minutes before foul trouble sent him out of the game again. One of the worst teams in the league as far as turnovers are concerned, the Timberwolves gave up the ball at least 15 times in the first half. That statistic and nearly 61 percent shooting for the Mavs in the half led to a 37-point second quarter and 71 points at halftime.

Led by Al Jefferson’s 36 points for the game and Ryan Gomes, the Timberwolves put up a 34-point quarter of their own and cut the lead down to 10 at 71-61 at the break. Minnesota’s 26 turnovers represented the dagger in any hope of coming back.

Marion, who played 37:54 in the game, set a new season-high for points by the 6:50 mark of the third. Dressing only nine players, all five starters finished in double figures. Eduardo Najera and J.J. Barea each contributed nine while DeShawn Stevenson and Matt Carroll had four apiece. Carroll hasn’t played since February 22 but saw 7:34 minutes Monday as a result of foul trouble for the starters.

Other Notes

• Things got interesting in the fourth as Minnesota’s Ryan Hollins was called for a Flagrant 2 foul on Nowitzki and ejected from the game.
• J.J Barea rolled his ankle in the fourth and was unable to shoot his foul shots. Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis got to pick Barea’s replacement. He chose Najera, who made both shots. Hopefully, Barea is OK; the Mavs don’t need any more injuries.