The Minnesota Timberwolves have been one of the NBA’s streakiest teams this season. They’re hoping their 108-83 win over the Golden State Warriors on Monday marks the start of another good streak.
To put together back-to-back wins, the Timberwolves assume they’ll again have to play their best when they travel to face the much-improved Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
With the win over the Warriors, the T-Wolves snapped a five-game losing streak — their longest of the season. Though the win came against a Warriors team without Stephen Curry, Draymond Green or Jimmy Butler, Minnesota got it done without superstar Anthony Edwards.
After going through shootaround, Edwards was a late scratch with a foot injury.
“It was news to me, honestly,” said Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch. “He had pain from the foot that’s been troubling him.”
Will Edwards be forced to miss Wednesday’s game?
“That’s not been communicated to me, but again, I haven’t really talked to the performance team since the decision was made to sit him (on Monday),” Finch said.
In Edwards’ absence, the Timberwolves relied on their defense and held the Warriors to 34.7% shooting. They also got big contributions from Rudy Gobert, who had 15 points and 17 rebounds, and Bones Hyland, who supplied 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists off the bench.
“It’s a long season,” said Timberwolves forward Naz Reid. “We have ups and downs, we haven’t had a moment where we lost four or five in a row in a long time. But we’re not perfect and it’s how you respond. We responded the right way, and now we’ve got to carry over the same energy.”
For the Mavericks, they’re seemingly finally starting to get some positive momentum despite a 116-110 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.
As the one-year anniversary of the Luka Doncic trade with the Lakers approaches, the drama around that move once again has been highlighted.
Since making the trade in the early hours of Feb. 2 last year, the Mavericks have suffered through injuries to stars Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis. Of course, Davis was the key piece in the return for Doncic.
With fan discontent growing after a slow start this season, Dallas dismissed former general manager Nico Harrison for his involvement in the Doncic trade.
Despite all the negatives, the Mavericks’ youth has given the organization a lot to be excited about recently. Before the loss to the Lakers, the Mavericks pieced together a four-game winning streak that included victories over the New York Knicks and Warriors.
Against the Lakers, the Mavericks held the lead late but weren’t able to hold off LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Doncic.
“I thought the group did a great job competing,” said Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd. “We put ourselves in a great position to win a close game.”
Cooper Flagg, who will highlight the Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star weekend, Max Christie and Brandon Williams have given the Mavericks a jolt of energy during a difficult season. Flagg, last June’s No. 1 overall pick, has been as good as advertised.
Christie, the other piece of the Doncic trade, led the Mavericks with 24 points against the Lakers and has scored more than 20 points in four consecutive games.
