The Minnesota Timberwolves welcomed Rudy Gobert back to the lineup but a late 3-point barrage propelled the Dallas Mavericks to a 104-99 victory on Wednesday night.
Gobert had missed the previous two games with an ankle injury but immediately made an impact in the paint. The seven-footer put up 19 points and 15 rebounds on the night and helped the Timberwolves take a 31-29 lead after the first quarter.
dominating the paint.
VOTE » https://t.co/z1SUyedsol pic.twitter.com/JgYPrVfdE0
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 22, 2022
Gobert also had help from the perimeter as Austin Edwards and Anthony Edwards paced the Timberwolves offensively. Rivers continued his hot play as of late, shooting 7-for-12 from the floor and scoring 19 points. Edwards also carried the team, scoring a team-high 23 points with five assists and an impressive block in transition on Luka Doncic.
Anthony Edwards ridiculous transition block on Luka Doncic, HOW??? pic.twitter.com/JbRRbitPIT
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) December 22, 2022
The Timberwolves went into halftime with a 52-51 lead and held an 85-82 advantage with 6:43 to go in the fourth quarter. The Mavericks took over from there with Tim Hardaway Jr. beginning a stretch of five straight 3-pointers to take a 97-89 lead with four minutes to go.
The Timberwolves made a 100-97 game on Jaden McDaniel’s 3-pointer with 26 seconds to go, but the deficit was too much to overcome and the Mavericks avenged a 116-106 loss from Monday night.
Doncic flirted with a triple-double, scoring a game-high 25 points to go with 10 assists and nine rebounds. Hardaway scored 21 points, Spencer Dinwiddie scored 18 points and Christian Wood had 12 points and five rebounds off the bench.
The Timberwolves fell to 16-16 with the loss and will travel to face the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
