October 31 ------ Kyrie Irving scored 35 points on 13-for-23 shooting as the Dallas Mavericks held on for a 120-114 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis. Luka Doncic finished with 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists for Dallas, which earned its second victory in as many nights. PJ Washington had 17 points to go along with 8 rebounds, and Daniel Gafford added 14 points for the Mavericks.
Anthony Edwards scored 37 points on 12-for-20 shooting to lead Minnesota, which had a two-game winning streak end. Julius Randle finished with 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists, and Naz Reid contributed 14 points and 9 rebounds off the bench. The Timberwolves committed 20 turnovers, Dallas had just 9. Minnesota trailed 99-87 after Gafford made a tip shot with 8:37 left.
The Timberwolves responded by scoring 20 of the next 30 points to pull within 109-107 with 4:04 to play. Rudy Gobert pulled down an offensive rebound, drew a foul on a putback attempt and made two free throws to cut the deficit to two. Moments later, Irving buried a three-pointer to increase Dallas’ edge to 112-107. Doncic built the lead to 8 points with a triple from 32 feet with 1:04 left. He hoisted a shot from near the logo as the shot clock approached zero.
Edwards hit a three-pointer to bring Minnesota within 118-114 with 26 seconds left, but Dallas held off the Timberwolves’ rally from there. The Mavericks led 93-82 at the end of the third quarter. Edwards hit a floating jump shot to cut the Timberwolves’ deficit to 74-73 with 5:45 to go in the third. Dallas closed the period on a 19-9 run to grab a double-digit lead. Spencer Dinwiddie and Quentin Grimes started the surge with consecutive 3-pointers.
The Mavericks led 61-59 at the half. Both teams shot better than 50% before the break, and Edwards had 24 points — all of which he scored in the first quarter. The Timberwolves led by as many as 10 points in the first half, as Reid drained a trey to put Minnesota on top 42-32 with 8:46 to go. Dallas answered with a 29-17 run to grab a two-point lead. Gafford finished the first-half scoring with a go-ahead layup with 43.8 seconds remaining.
Source: rappler.com
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