Mavericks vs Wolves Final Score: Dallas beats Minnesota, 120-114

The Dallas Mavericks (3-1) are making a bad habit of winning in spite of themselves here at the start of the 2024-25 season, but hey, they all count the same.

The Mavericks entered Minneapolis on Tuesday and outlasted the Timberwolves, 120-114 at Target Center on the second night of the first back-to-back set of the season. The way the Mavs took control of the game as the third quarter wore on nearly gave it all back on a Wolves run in the fourth quarter and put the game away in clutch time played like a deleted scene package from the 2024 Western Conference Finals DVD box set.

When it became clear that Kyrie Irving was going to have to put the Mavs on his shoulders, he stepped up in a big way to lead the Mavs to victory down the stretch. Irving scored 25 of his team-high 35 points in the second half before a limping but furious Luka Dončić put his own stink on the game’s final minutes to preserve the win. Dončić hit a game-sealing 3-pointer from darn near the Timberwolves logo with 1:04 left in the game and finished with 24 points, nine assists and eight rebounds on another tough shooting night.

PJ Washington had 17 points and eight rebounds on 7-of-13 shooting. Anthony Edwards hit the Mavs in the mouth for 24 of his game-high 37 points in the first quarter.

Ant marches early

Edwards was imbued with The Power Cosmic to start the game, and the Mavericks defense looked a step slow on possession after possession to get a hand in the face. He set a new career high in points in a quarter with 24 of the Wolves’ 34 points to start the game. Edwards’ 24-point performance in the first is the second-highest scoring output in a quarter in Timberwolves franchise history, behind only Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 32 in a quarter in 2022.

Edwards played like he had been playing around after the Mavericks’ dismantling of the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals. He’s been shooting more sound from 3-point range to start the 2024-25 season and had it on automatically from deep in the first quarter on Tuesday, connecting on a ridiculous 6-of-8 from 3-point range. Edwards made 3-pointers on three consecutive Minnesota possessions just four minutes into the game, then hit three more as the first quarter ended and the Wolves began to build their early lead. The Mavs were hanging on for dear life, down 34-26 after one quarter.

Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images

Edwards suffered an injury late in the first and would score just one point in the next quarter and a half. He came alive in the fourth quarter as the Wolves made it close down the stretch and finished the game with a game-high 37 points. but shot just 6-of-12 from the free throw line in the loss.

Key Mavs run in the second quarter

Dallas shot as well as it could in the second quarter and owned the paint as they waited for the Wolves’ hot start from the perimeter. The Mavs’ first meaningful run came about five minutes into the second quarter. It wasn’t loud, but it was key. Dončić started the run with a strong drive to the hoop with 6:39 left in the half. The Mavericks’ luck appeared to turn as Dončić made a more determined effort to score inside after missing his first three 3-point attempts of the game.

Washington rebounded Dončić’s third missed 3-ball wide and in rhythm near the top of the key with just over five minutes left in the half and knocked down his first 3-pointer of the game to bring the Mavs within one, down 47-46. Then Dončić soaked up the Wolves’ defense on a drive the next time down the floor and found Dereck Lively II for a one-handed alley-oop jam that gave Dallas the lead back, 48-47, with 4:38 left in the second. It was an 11-3 run that gave the Mavericks their first lead of the game since there was 4:45 left in the first quarter.

Slow shooting starts have become the norm for Dončić in the first three games of the season, but that’s somewhat understandable since he didn’t have much of a preseason after suffering a calf injury. Dallas led 61-59 at the half.

Luka had to fight

Late in the first half, as the lead seemed to change hands every time down the floor, Dončić crumpled to the ground after knocking in a quick shot in the lane on a broken play that put the Mavs up 59-57 with 1 :17 before the break. It looked like a Wolves defender kneed Dončić in the back of his knee – almost like a dead leg or Charley Horse.

He returned to start the third quarter, but did not score at all in his third quarter shift. It looked like his leg might still have bothered him right out of the break.

But he also had to fight through another tough shooting night. Just one night after shooting 5-of-22 in Monday’s 110-102 win over Utah JazzDončić connected on just 10-of-27 shot attempts against the Timberwolves. The dramatic 3-pointer with 1:04 left in the game was his first of the game — he went 1-of-8 from distance in the win.

Here comes the cavalry

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

But unlike previous seasons, the Mavericks are built to win this year even on the occasional Dončić off-night. Irving asserted his dominance of the game as Dončić struggled throughout the third quarter, scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the frame. He hit two big 3-balls and a running lay-in assisted by Spencer Dinwiddie in the final minute and a half of the third.

Quentin Grimes hit his first three 3-pointers in a Mavs uniform against the Wolves, and two of them also came in the decisive third quarter. His second of the quarter and third of the game put the Mavericks ahead 83-75 with 2:33 left in the third and came on Irving’s fifth assist of the game.

Dallas led 93-82 entering the fourth and held on for another clutch win against the Timberwolves.