Mavericks come out of break with sloppy game, fall hard to Timberwolves

Rick Carlisle was in no mood to hear about the long All-Star break playing a major role in the Dallas Mavericks losing Friday night to the Minnesota Timberwolves 97-84.

The Mavs put on an uncharacteristically sloppy performance before 15,948 at the Target Center. Dallas turned the ball over 16 times leading to 18 points for Minnesota, and the Timberwolves used those turnovers — plus the Mavs’ inability to get back in transition defense — to accumulate more than their fair share of leak-out dunks or layups.

“Everybody’s got to play the first game after the break,” Carlisle, the Mavs’ coach, said. “They certainly didn’t seem to have any problems.

“The problem we had tonight was turnovers, turnovers that led to catastrophic situations that are unguardable. Look, we’ve got to get the ball in the basket a little bit more, but take the turnovers out of the game and it’s an even game and we’re right there.”

This was the third straight loss for the Mavs, who were playing their first game since losing in Detroit 98-91 on Feb. 15.

Andrew Wiggins scored 16 of his 27 points in the first quarter and Karl-Anthony Towns added 26 points and 18 rebounds as the Timberwolves (23-35) vaulted past the Mavs (22-35) in the Western Conference standings in the heated race for the eighth and final playoff spot.

It was a game where the Mavs wasted a career night from Seth Curry, who finished with a career-high 31 points on 13-of-17 shooting. The only other player for the Mavs with more than eight points was Harrison Barnes, who fired in 20 points on 9 of 17 shots.

Take Curry and Barnes out of the equation and the rest of the Mavs were just 13 of 49 from the field for a lousy 26.5 percent.

Despite their suspect showing from the field, the Mavs rallied from a 16-point deficit to tie the score at 75-all with 7:58 remaining when Devin Harris scored eight of Dallas’ 10 points.

But Towns tallied three baskets, Tyus Jones buried a 3-pointer, and Ricky Rubio danced to the basket uncontested and suddenly Minnesota was nursing a 94-82 lead with just 2:03 left.

That led to the Mavs having no choice but to turn their attention to Saturday night’s home game against New Orleans.

“We had stretches where we couldn’t score and we didn’t bring enough resistance down low,” Curry said. “Rebounding and in the post, they’ve got some talented players down there on the block and we just couldn’t handle them for the whole game.”

Center Nerlens Noel, whom the Mavs acquired in a Thursday trade with the Philadelphia 76ers, should help the Mavs with their rebounding woes and with their overall interior presence. That certainly was absent against the Timberwolves, who outrebounded the Mavs (44-35) and also outscored them in the paint (48-30).

Meanwhile, rookie Yogi Ferrell struggled and was just 2 of 9 from the floor with five points and three turnovers in his first game as the Mavs’ starting point guard since they waived their point guard Deron Williams.

“It was a weird game,” said Mavericks guard Wesley Matthews, who finished with seven points on 2-of-9 shooting. “We missed a lot of shots that we normally make.

“I didn’t make any shots, but I’m not going to blame any (All-Star) break for that. I missed good open looks.”

Overall, the Mavs shot 42.2 percent from the field and also missed 25 of their 33 attempts from 3-point range.

“We’ve got to play better,” said Carlisle, whose team trailed 49-40 at the half. “I thought they played with more overall force for the sum total of the game.

“That can’t happen, especially on the road. We’ve just got to do better in a lot of little areas.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2017 at 10:58 PM with the headline "Mavericks come out of break with sloppy game, fall hard to Timberwolves."