The Dallas Mavericks ended the regular season with a 121-136 bust against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Mavs have little to counter the triple fireworks of the Wolves and No. 1 pick Anthony Edwards. Nevertheless, the Mavs go into the playoffs as a 5-seed.
Minnesota Timberwolves (23-49) – Dallas Mavericks (42-30) 136:121 (BOXSCORE)
Due to the successes of the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers on the last day of the regular season, the two teams are tied with the Mavs with 42 wins and 30 losses. However, since Dallas won the Southwest Division, the Texans have the tiebreaker on their side and finish the season in fifth place in the Western Conference. In the first playoff round, which starts on May 22, Dallas now faces the LA Clippers.
Last year Dallas was eliminated from LAC in the first playoff round after six games, Luka Doncic described the upcoming duel as a “hellish matchup”. Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said of the upcoming opponent: “They are a top team, a legitimate candidate for the title. But we are looking forward to the challenge.”
With a win against the Wolves, Dallas could have secured fifth place without a tiebreaker, but the Mavs had the worm right from the start. Dallas fell behind relatively quickly by double digits and was unable to recover from the hosts’ three-way fireworks. Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis (4/5 threesome) were already top scorers of the Mavs with 18 points each.
Both were spared in the final section, Doncic only hit 2/7 from Downtown (6/13 FG), but was also responsible for 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Dorian Finney-Smith, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson each got 15 points. Maxi Kleber was not there due to problems with the Achilles tendon, strokes loudly ESPN but a $ 150,000 bonus as he hit over 40 percent from a distance for the entire season (41 percent).
In Minnesota, which ended the season with three wins from the last five games, Anthony Edwards became the best man. The number 1 pick scored 30 points with 10/21 out of the field and 5/9 threesomes (plus 4 assists), marking a good end to his rookie season. Support came from Karl-Anthony Towns (23), D’Angelo Russell (23 and 10 assists) or Jaden McDaniels (19) and Naz Reid (17, 7/7 FG). Minnesota sank 17 threes and nearly 55 percent out of the field.
Dallas Mavericks: disaster start and hot Wolves
The Mavs had enormous problems at the start of the game, especially from downtown, while Minnesota collected numerous second chance points (9) thanks to 7 offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone. In general, the guests’ defense was extremely vulnerable at the beginning, which resulted in a deserved 22:38 deficit after twelve minutes.
While Dallas sank the first triple after a few minutes in the second section in a total of twelfth attempt, the home side scored ten threesomes in the same period. One of them in the middle of the round put the Wolves at +23, only then did Dallas find an offensive rhythm. Four three-pointers of their own in a row brought new life to Dallas, at half-time the Mavs shortened to 60:76.
The 76 Wolves points were the most Dallas allowed in any half that season, and even after the break, the Texans simply couldn’t stop Minnesota. Edwards posed with a nasty stepback threesome followed by another triple in the middle of the third quarter, the old distance of 23 points was restored. After all, Brunson sent a positive sign with a buzzer beater at the end of the section at 95: 113.
Doncic was no longer on the floor, the Mavs star was finally spared in the entire fourth quarter. The role players couldn’t start a real run either, with Edwards and KAT ultimately setting the end two Poster-Slams in the closing minutes.
– .
