Mavericks vs. Timberwolves Final Score: Dallas falls to Minnesota, 105-99

The Dallas Mavericks fell for it Minnesota Timberwolves Christmas Day by a score of 105-99. Kyrie Irving led the way for Dallas, scoring 39 points. Anthony Edwards was the highlight man for Minnesota, chipping in 26 of his own.

Superstars Luka Doncic and Anthony Edwards both started the game on fire, scoring eight points apiece. piece in the first six minutes of the first quarter. Dallas got out to a small early lead, but Minnesota responded with a 7-0 run to go up by five. Kyrie Irving then began looking for his shot, the Mavericks defense tightened up and a Quentin Grimes three gave Dallas the lead with two minutes left. The lead was extended to five, but Minnesota ended the period on a 7-0 run to take a 26-24 advantage into the second quarter.

Klay Thompson hit two quick threes to start the second quarter and restore the lead to Dallas. Unfortunately, Minnesota responded by going on an extended run. Bitten by the turnover bug, the Mavericks couldn’t capitalize on the non-Edwards minutes as the Timberwolves began to pull away. Dallas remained in the mud for most of the period and then disaster struck; Luka Doncic suffered a leg injury, went to the locker room and did not return in the first half. Things continued to snowball for Dallas as a lid remained on the basket. Minnesota went into the half with a 57-40 lead.

Doncic was out at halftime with a left calf strain. And it didn’t get any better in the third. Dallas continued to play poorly on both sides of the ball, allowing Minnesota to extend their lead to as many as 28 points. Irving scored 11 points in the frame, but it didn’t matter. The Mavericks trailed 90-68 entering the fourth quarter.

Irving continued to cook in the fourth, opening the period on a personal 5-0 run. Dallas finally started playing with power and went on their first big run of the game, cutting the Minnesota lead down to nine with five minutes left. Suddenly it seemed that a Christmas miracle was on its way; The Maverick defense was sensational down the stretch and they managed to trim the deficit down to just two with 48 seconds left. Irving then missed a pull-up three early on the clock, Edwards answered with a layup and the game was over. Dallas’ furious comeback fell short, and the Timberwolves escaped with a 105-99 victory. Here are three observations from this one.

More life without Luka

Doncic has been injured in one way or another since the 2024 playoffs. This year, he already has five lower-body injuries. A left calf strain isn’t the worst case scenario, but Doncic will definitely miss some time going forward. Dallas has done well without him this year with a 6-2 record. Today, though, the team stalled in the third after Doncic went down. Minnesota already had a big lead and the Mavericks seemed to shrug and resign themselves to a loss at the half. Dallas has a tough road trip coming up, with games against SunKings and Rockets threatening. It is likely that Luka will not play in any of them. Kyrie Irving and the supporting cast will need to flush this game and lock in this stretch if they want to continue their winning ways without Luka.

The great Mavericks got punked

Both Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford looked overmatched against Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle for much of this one. Last match against Portlandthe Dallas duo dominated the mediocre Blazer bigs. But Minnesota’s frontcourt is a different animal, and it was disappointing to see this kind of performance. Lively played well down the stretch during the Mavericks’ comeback attempt, but that didn’t negate the poor play from earlier in the game. So much of Dallas’ identity is based on their bigs, so it’s hard to win when they’re both outplayed. Shoutout to Maxi Kleber, but he played incredible defense in the fourth quarter and even hit a couple threes today.

Maybe don’t wait until you’re down to 28 to play hard

The fourth quarter comeback was really fun and the Mavericks finally played with power. If they picked up that energy from the jump (or even after the break), they might have been able to pull this one out even without Doncic. It’s nice that this team can flip the switch when they need to, but when you spend three quarters of a game farting around and coming down big, it’s hard to pull off a miraculous comeback.