Mavericks rally to beat Timberwolves but Luka Doncic wasn’t the star for once
Dallas Mavericks fans have reason to be excited beyond the jaw-dropping heroics of Luka Doncic.
The team around Doncic has begun to show what it brings to the court during Dallas’ 15-6 start.
That includes the Mavs’ 121-114 win Wednesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves at American Airlines Center.
With Doncic on the bench at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Mavs cut away at the TWolves’ lead and tied it at 86-86 on Jalen Brunson’s pull-up jumper with 9:36 left in the game. Moments later, Dallas took an 89-86 lead on Maxi Kleber’s wide-open 3-pointer at the top of the key on a nice assist from Delon Wright.
Minnesota reclaimed the lead, however, and the teams finished the final eight minutes in a back and forth dog fight before the Mavs pulled away in final two minutes. Brunson and Justin Jackson hit consecutive 3s on successive possessions to give Dallas a four-point lead with 6:37 remaining. In fact, the Mavs hit their first five 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter. Kleber had two of them.
“We’re finding ways to get better every day and I think that’s what makes this group special,” said Brunson, who finished with 16 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter with the game in the balance.
Doncic finally returned to the court for the final five minutes and he hit his first 3 to give Dallas a five-point lead with 4:30 left. After being fouled on another 3-point attempt, Doncic made all three free throws to push the Mavs’ lead to eight.
Kristaps Porzingis pulled up for a 3 to help Dallas pull away with a 10-point lead with under 3:00 to go. After Minnesota had cut the lead to five, Porzingis grabbed a short 3-point attempt from Doncic and slammed it home just before the shot-clock expired for a seven-point lead with 1:07 remaining.
Dorian Finney-Smith made huge plays down the stretch at both ends of the floor. He forced a jump ball on a defensive stop in the paint and grabbed a big offensive rebound to keep a possession alive.
“We’re deep,” Finney-Smith said. “The greatest part is [Brunson] hasn’t even played that much and he can play. That just shows you how deep this team is. Any night it could be someone.”
Brunson was 7 of 8 from the field, including perfect in the fourth quarter.
Dwight Powell finished with a team-high 24 points on a perfect nine of nine from the field. It’s the first time in 17 games that Doncic didn’t lead the team in scoring. He finished with 22 points, including seven in the fourth.
Powell had 11 points on 5 of 5 shooting in the first quarter. It’s a a career-high total for Powell in the first 12 minutes of a game.
“I think it’s important for us to take advantage of our depth every night,” said Powell, who had five rebounds and four assists. “We have guys who know how to play and we have guys who are ready to compete.”
After the TWolves built an 11-point lead in the third quarter, Powell led the rally. He took a nice feed from Seth Curry for a dunk. And he slashed to the basket to set up a three-point play to cut the deficit to four with under two minutes left in the period. Powell left the game with an arm injury and didn’t return late in the fourth.
Powell said after the game that his arm was fine.
“It was just a really awkward. It felt like my arm got stuck in a revolving door,” he said. “It didn’t feel good but thankfully it’s not broken.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 10:02 PM.
