3 Studs, 2 duds from Dallas Mavericks' narrow win over Timberwolves

In perhaps the most team-spirited victory of the season, the Dallas Mavericks took down the No. 1 seed Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night by a score of 115-108.

Dallas had a tough time controlling Minnesota on the glass as Dereck Lively II’s absence was readily apparent, but Dallas stepped up down the stretch by winning a ton of 50/50 balls. The Mavericks canned 15-40 3-pointers tonight, but 11 of those 3-point makes came from the likes of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Dallas’ role players had a tough time stepping up offensively against a very stout and lengthy Minnesota defense, but they came together to stop the likes of Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns on the other end. The Mavericks played very sound help defense down the stretch and were extremely savvy with their defensive rotations.

3 Studs, 2 duds from Dallas Mavericks' narrow win over Timberwolves

Dallas did a great job of scram switching amidst the countless mismatches that Minnesota presented, and they did a great job at forcing fourth and fifth options to take uncomfortable shots down the stretch by staying stringent within their zone defense that Jason Kidd opted to go to at times.

No one necessarily played badly tonight as everyone who played ended up having a finger in Dallas’ gritty victory, but nonetheless, there are always nitpicks that we can make. Here are three studs, and two duds from the Mavericks victory over the Timberwolves.

5. Stud - Derrick Jones Jr.

Derrick Jones Jr. may not have had the most gaudy stat-line on Sunday night, but he contributed to Dallas’ victory in many different facets of the game and still posted a 12-point and 10-rebound double-double. Jones Jr. has quickly risen to become a fan-favorite after being signed on only a minimum deal this past off-season, and Sunday night was yet another example of him showing how invaluable he’s become for this Mavericks team.

Jones Jr. played great defense across the board all night. His primary task was guarding Anthony Edwards, who he did a pretty phenomenal job on, but inevitably Edwards still managed to get to his spots on a few occasions given how uber-talented he is. Otherwise though, Jones Jr. was excellent as a help-side defender and even anchored down in the post against Naz Reid on a few possessions.

Jones Jr. had multiple key blocks against Reid and Rudy Gobert, as his length and verticality was particularly helpful with Dallas missing Lively II out of the lineup. The Timberwolves were trying to force Jones Jr. to shoot from outside amidst him shooting slightly below average recently, but he still stepped into his looks with confidence even if they weren’t falling. He also found ways to get on the board by generating put-backs in a game where Dallas struggled to rebound mightily in the first half.

Jones Jr. showed great persistence in the final juncture of the game, as he had missed a wide-open three pointer late in the game off of a Luka double team with 54 seconds left, but ended up driving in for a massive two-handed dunk after another Doncic double-team on the ensuing offensive possession.

Jones Jr. effectively put the dagger into Minnesota’s night by putting Dallas up 111-106 with 25 seconds left after his slam, and it can’t be stated enough how huge he’s been for this Mavericks team all season.

4. Dud - Josh Green

Josh Green didn’t negatively affect the Dallas Mavericks in their victory over the Timberwolves, but he also didn’t provide much at all from an offensive standpoint despite having a few opportunities to take advantage of mismatches on the perimeter.

Green started the game off clicking on all cylinders, as he had a pull-up jumper and transition layup off of a block he got on Anthony Edwards all early on in the contest. Green only shot one more field goal after that though, as he finished 2-3 from the field with four points.

Mavericks fans have been panning for Green to be more assertive and he did so in Dallas’ victory over the Trail Blazers on Friday night by scoring 14 points on 7-8 shooting from the field, but this game was a complete far cry from that. To Green’s credit, he was tasked with chasing around Mike Conley for a large chunk of the game and Minnesota typically runs Conley off of a lot of staggers, so Green was chasing around Conley all night and guarding Anthony Edwards for some stretches as well.

Green did a relatively good job of containing them on defense barring a few rough possessions on Edwards early on, but furthermore perhaps his tall task defensively may have affected his motor on the offensive side. Green had five rebounds and hustled well all night so by no means was it a complete ‘dud’ of a performance, but he has to continue working on being more reliable and assertive for Dallas on the offensive side going forward if he's going to be a part of Dallas' young core for years to come.

3. Stud - Luka Doncic

Luka Doncic had yet another obscene performance as the Slovenian-wonder finished with 34 points, eight assists, and six rebounds on the night. Doncic was getting double-teamed at the point of attack by Minnesota’s lengthy defenders in Edwards and Jaden McDaniels all game, but he countered by splitting double teams and finding the roll man in the 4-on-3 all too often.

Doncic only had three turnovers on the night and was getting swarmed virtually every possession after he started draining some wild step-back threes in the third quarter. It certainly wasn’t the most electric scoring game that we’ve ever seen from Doncic, but he made all the right plays offensively even if it didn’t correlate to direct assists.

Doncic also played a pretty decent defensive game, as he anchored down and used his strength well when having to guard one-on-one. Doncic may have gotten caught lacking as an off-ball defender a few times, but it was definitely one of his more well-rounded defensive performances of the season, as he’s shown a tendency to up his defensive intensity in high-profile matchups on occasion. Doncic did a great job of hustling for loose balls late in the game as well as head coach Jason Kidd is taking notice of how him and fellow superstar Kyrie Irving's effort has ripple effects for the rest of the team.

The Mavericks had a tough time on the defensive glass all night, but in the few times that it was applicable, Doncic did a great job at pushing the ball down the floor off of long misses by Minnesota. Doncic ultimately put up another MVP-caliber performance and got to his spots at will when he wasn’t getting double-teamed, but there is one Maverick on our list who could’ve possibly even had a better performance on the night.

2. Dud - Tim Hardaway Jr.

Despite a slew of good shooting games over the last five games or so, Tim Hardaway Jr. unfortunately reverted back to the mean on Sunday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Hardaway Jr. came off the bench for Dallas as usual and finished with 12 points off of 4-13 shooting from the field in 32 minutes of playing time.

Hardaway Jr. looked particularly rough offensively tonight for whatever reason, as he even missed a near wide-open layup during the first half of the contest. The Mavericks played an extremely tight rotation tonight as head coach Jason Kidd didn’t want to leave anything on the table against the Timberwolves, so Dallas was desperately looking for Hardaway Jr. to step up as a scorer in a game where Dallas was almost devoid of any offense that wasn’t catalyzed by Irving or Doncic.

Hardaway Jr. was getting to his spots tonight and did a great job finding the pockets in the defense to spot up for catch-and-shoot 3-pointers off of attacks from Doncic or Irving all night, but his looks simply just weren’t dropping tonight for the most part. Hardaway Jr. is a microwave scorer so it’s been good to see him get back on track recently after a slight slump derailed an extremely hot start to the season for him.

Hardway Jr. is bound to have some rough shooting games but as long as his shot diet doesn’t consist of abysmal attempts and he plays average defense, then Dallas will have to take what they can get from him sometimes as tonight showed.

1. Stud - Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving likely played his most complete game of the season in Dallas’ Sunday night victory over Minnesota. Irving finished with 35 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks. Irving shot extremely efficiently as well as he made 6-8 three pointers and went 14-27 from the field overall.

What made Irving’s performance so inspiring though was the amount of winning plays he made down the stretch. Irving stated that Dallas made a point of emphasis to control all the little things in his post-game interview with Bally Sports Southwest, and that was reflected on the court as Irving dove for a loose ball into the Timberwolves bench in the second-half and hustled for rebounds all night.

Irving played excellent off-ball defense as the rotational help defender, and did a great job at deflecting passes all night as well. On the offensive end, Irving was extremely persistent in getting to his spots when he was tasked with running the offense, and made multiple contested fade-away jump-shots from the mid-range to keep Dallas ahead.

Irving shot great from three-point land too as aforementioned, and was coming off of curl-offs and moving well off-ball to set himself open for some great looks all night. Irving scored eight points in the fourth quarter for Dallas and managed the game extremely smart down the stretch in tandem with Doncic, as the duo combined for 69 points on the night.

Irving took time to wish everyone in Dallas a happy Sunday in his post-game interview as he’s always trying to spread good vibes, and it certainly was given the Mavericks’ electric team-oriented win as well as the Dallas Cowboys' clinching of the NFC East.

Stay plugged in with us for everything pertaining to the Dallas Mavericks, as we look ahead to Dallas’ next game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night.