Sunday night at Target Center, the Timberwolves were playing a injury-riddled Dallas team that played a chippy, physical game that at times bordered on confrontational.
Timberwolves beat Dallas 111-105, win fourth straight and move back to .500
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 24 points as the Wolves won again with Anthony Edwards unavailable.
December 20, 2021 at 12:05PM
Their offense not running at peak efficiency, the Wolves saw a nine-point lead late in the third quarter melt away into a two-point deficit entering the fourth. In short, it was the kind of game that, so often in the past, would not have ended like this:
Timberwolves 111, Mavericks 105.
Call it maturity. Consider the team is learning to hold itself accountable. Keep in mind the Wolves were short-handed Sunday, too, with Anthony Edwards, Josh Okogie and Taurean Prince all in the NBA's health and safety protocols.
But they found a way to win.
"I think this team is building a foundation," Karl-Anthony Towns said after scoring 24 points, including a huge three-pointer down the stretch, to go with seven rebounds and six assists. "No matter who is on the floor, we're going to go out and play Timberwolves basketball. We showed that tonight. Things weren't as pretty as the Lakers game. We struggled a little bit."
This was the sort of game the Wolves have been losing for years. Down two entering the fourth, the Wolves reclaimed the lead early in the final quarter and grimly held on to win a fourth consecutive game and reach .500 (15-15) again.
Jaylen Nowell (16) and Jaden McDaniels (12) scored 28 of the Wolves' 36 bench points. D'Angelo Russell scored 22 points. Patrick Beverley had 10 points and eight rebounds.
There was contribution up and down the rotation. More importantly, the Wolves, down the stretch, played like a team that expected to win.
"We're trusting the offense," Towns said. "Trusting our sets, trusting the people who are not the three-headed monster. Understanding that, if we keep the offense going, and if we're playing defense …"
That things will turn out OK.
All of that happened Sunday. The Wolves held the Mavericks (14-15) to 38% shooting in the fourth quarter while getting points from seven players in the final 12 minutes. That included Nowell early, as the Wolves were taking the lead back.
And late?
With 1:57 left, Dorian Finney-Smith drove for a dunk that brought the Mavericks within two points. At the other end, against a Mavs zone, Towns found himself at the top of the key against guard Jalen Brunson, and hit his only three-pointer of the night. After Brunson scored, Russell was fouled and made both free throws with 51.1 seconds left. Then the Wolves forced a turnover.
Both teams were playing short. The Mavs were without their injured leading scorer, Luka Doncic, and Kristaps Porzingis hurt his foot in the first half and didn't play in the second. But with Tim Hardaway scoring a game-high 28 points, Finney-Smith getting 23 and Brunson 18, the Mavericks wouldn't go away. That is, until the Wolves put them away.
"We had to grind it out, but it was a good game," Wolves coach Chris Finch said. "They made a lot of shots, and every time we got up on 'em, they came right back. But it's good for us to win a game like this."
Towns has been around long enough to know how easy it has been to lose games like this.
"We had those games as a young team and sometimes we let go of the rope and we found a way to lose," he said.
Maybe the team tightened up. Maybe the players started thinking they had to do it themselves. Maybe the ball stopped moving. None of that happened Sunday. "Trusting the offense," Towns said. "Trusting each other. I think that's really what it comes down to."
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