DALLAS _ The Mavericks started wearing out the bottom of the net midway through the fourth quarter. American Airlines Center started rocking � and this was all before MVP candidate Luka Doncic re-entered the game. A Timberwolves lead had vanished, but in other spots this year the Wolves found ways to get it back.
Except the Mavericks, who own the league's most efficient offense, wouldn't miss.
The Wolves kicked off their first of two four-game road trips this month with a hard-fought but ultimately empty 121-114 loss to Dallas, who caught fire down the stretch.
With the Wolves leading 93-91 and 7 minutes, 19 seconds to play, the Mavericks hit three-pointers on five of their next six possessions, then added three free throws Doncic for good measure. By the time Kristaps Porzingis hit another three with 2:51 to play, the Mavericks had flipped the score to 114-104 and tightened their grip around the Wolves to suffocating. The Wolves fell to 10-10.
It was a game the Wolves could have had, given that Doncic struggled much of the night and was frustrated with the officiating. He finished with 22 on 8 of 22 shooting with five turnovers. But the Mavericks 7 of 11 three-point shooting in the fourth made the difference. Jalen Brunson was the main spark plug, scoring 16, 14 in the fourth. Dwight Powell killed the Wolves with 24 on 9 of 9 shooting.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points, nine rebounds and eight assists to lead the Wolves while Andrew Wiggins had 26 on 7 of 24 shooting. Robert Covington added 22.
It took a few minutes in the first quarter for the Wolves to steady themselves, and as a result they were playing from behind most of the half. The Wolves fell into an early 11-3 hole, prompting Ryan Saunders to call an early timeout. But the Wolves were able to find their footing by getting to the rim. Every player began taking the ball to the basket, with Jarrett Culver finding some early success with eight first-half points.
But the Mavericks were able to keep a couple possession lead thanks to Dwight Powell, who helped pick up the scoring slack as Doncic struggled to find a rhythm early. It was Powell who had 11 first-quarter points on 5 of 5 shooting. The Wolves were able to get as close as 22-21 following a three-pointer from Treveon Graham with 3:19 to play in the first, but the Mavericks closed on an 8-4 run to take a 30-25 lead into the second quarter.
From there, the Mavericks had their best stretch of the night as the Wolves' second unit couldn't put the ball in the basket.
The Wolves had just two point over the first 3:29 of the second and Dallas rebuilt its advantage, eventually pushing it to as much as 45-32 with 6:20 to play in the half. But from there the Wolves were able to claw back into it thanks in part to Covington's hot shooting. In the final 2:23 of the half, Covington nailed three three-pointers to help the Wolves take their first lead of the night as they closed the first half on an 11-1 run and led 56-53.
Towns helped pick up where Covington left off in the third quarter. As he did in a road win against Atlanta last week, Towns began to take over after halftime, scoring 11 points within the first 4:04 of the third as the Wolves opened up their largest lead of the night 73-62.
Only, the Wolves couldn't build off that, as Dallas scored the next 10 points to pull back 73-72. Then the Wolves responded with another 9-2 spurt to lead by eight and would lead 84-80 headed into the fourth,
The Mavericks would tie the score with 9:36 to play as Brunson entered to do his best Doncic impression. He diced up the second unit and then kickstarted the deciding rally with a pair of threes. He and the Mavericks were just getting going.
