Overview
- The Timberwolves crushed the Mavericks 133-94 in a lopsided game that exploded open in the third quarter, improving Minnesota to 9-3 and snapping Dallas’s three-game winning streak.
- LaMelo Ball paced Minnesota with six three-pointers, 22 points and a season-high nine assists while controlling tempo and creating looks for teammates.
- Minnesota overwhelmed Dallas inside, outscoring the Mavs 74-42 in the paint and winning the rebound battle 50-38, with Bones Hyland supplying 24 points off the bench.
- Dallas’s primary creators struggled as Cooper Flagg was held to 12 points after an early ankle tweak and Kyrie Irving scored 10, while the team shot just 37% overall.
- The result reinforced Minnesota’s early-season identity: elite team defense, depth that offsets Anthony Edwards’s absence, and a performance that shifts short-term Western Conference momentum as both teams move on to Saturday matchups.