The Minnesota Timberwolves aim to rebound from a rare loss when they conclude their three-game road trip against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.
The Timberwolves extended their winning streak to six games with a 127-103 road victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday before dropping a 121-107 road decision against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. All-Star forward Anthony Edwards sustained a right hip pointer against the Grizzlies and did not play versus the Pelicans.
Karl-Anthony Towns collected 17 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out against New Orleans. He made all five of his shot attempts in the first half, however, he was limited to just two points in the second half.
“They were doubling (Towns),” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said. “They were super physical. He couldn’t get a clean look in the post.”
Mike Conley and Naz Reid also contributed 17 points for the Timberwolves, who might not face off against the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic on Thursday.
Doncic was added to the injury report on Tuesday afternoon with a lower back contusion, mere hours after he shouldered the load with 35 points in a 120-113 win over the Grizzlies. The four-time All-Star then went out Tuesday night and collected 33 points and 17 assists against the Los Angeles Lakers to lead the Mavericks to their fourth straight victory.
“I don’t know how I played,” Doncic said after Dallas’ 127-125 victory Tuesday. “I slept very little today. Everything hurts. I’m getting old, man, but we got two back-to-back wins, which is amazing, especially against a team like the Lakers. So I’m really proud of these guys.”
Doncic is averaging 35.2 points, 12.4 assists and 9.0 rebounds in five December games.
Tim Hardaway Jr. returned for Dallas after missing three of the team’s last five contests with back spasms to score 32 points versus the Lakers.
“I was going to come out aggressive, knowing how they were defending Luka,” Hardaway said. “I just had to try my best to just put a stamp on the game.”
Dallas is dealing with the absence of Kyrie Irving, who has missed his team’s last two games due to a right heel contusion. Derrick Jones Jr. (quad) sat out Tuesday’s game and Seth Curry missed the second half versus the Lakers due to a sore left ankle.
The Timberwolves welcomed the return of Jaden McDaniels, who scored 12 points off the bench in his first action in over three weeks due to an ankle sprain.
“I thought Jaden was good in moments,” Finch said. “Struggled to find an offensive rhythm out there, as to be expected, first game back.”
Edwards averaged 27.3 points and 7.3 rebounds to help Minnesota win two of the three meetings versus Dallas last season.
He is contributing a team-best 24.4 points per game in 19 games (all starts) this season. Towns is scoring 21.6 points for Minnesota, which owns a 12-3 record against Western Conference foes.
–Field Level Media