Without much history, the Mavericks were far superior to the Timberwolves (108-128), exactly the problem for the Wolves against almost any opponent this season. The worst team in the NBA (10-34 now) started well: 16-3 with an initial triple by Ricky Rubio, who did not score anymore, and 8 points by Anthony Edwards, who made numbers (29 points, 5 rebounds) but so ugly. Eleven in that good first quarter (33-30 local) … and nothing until the last, in which he scored 18 points already with the game turned into a runner-up. The number 1 in the draft was 3/12 in triples and 9/22 in total shots for some Wolves who fought until the break (55-56) and they sank afterward, basically as soon as the Mavs got up to speed on offense.
After that bad first half (18/48 shooting, 37%), Rick Carlisle’s men made 52% of their pitches and escaped in the third quarter (18-32 of partial). They remain at 23-19, seventh behind the West, less than two games behind sixth place, the first one that allows them to escape the new play in. They are 14-5 in the last 19 games, the section in which they have had a more or less normalized rotation after the effect of COVID. And things just look good.
Especially if Kristaps Porzingis is at this level: 12 points in the first quarter to stop the initial bleeding, at the end 29 with 9 rebounds and 4 assists. The Mavs are 6-1 this season if the Latvian scores at least 25 points. And between his very good game and the weak level of the rival, Luka Doncic could afford a strange day off: He started with three losses, did not score his second basket until the moments before the break and finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, 6/16 in shots and 2/9 in triples. No more was needed in a good game by Tim Hardaway (21 points, 5/9 in triples), Dwight Powell (16 points, 8 rebounds) and Jalen Brunson (16 + 11 and 5 assists).
In the Wolves, Karl-Anthony Towns was more regular than Edwards (22 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists) and Ricky stayed in 3 points with that initial triple (1/7 in shooting) to which he added 7 assists. From the bench Juancho Hernangómez added 17 points and 5 rebounds and Jaylen Nowell, who continues with his very good feelings, scored 11 points and distributed 4 assists.
S. ANTONIO SPURS 101-L.A. CLIPPERS 134
The Mavericks took advantage of the defeat of the Spurs (22-19 now, in the middle of the game against Dallas), who have lost the first two of a run of nine in a row at home, this time crushed by some Clippers who will receive again tonight, in double duel in back to back. They will have the opportunity to compensate after being infinitely inferior to a rival that (29-16) when it works, does it in a steamroller version: eleven victories already this season by 20 points or more. The public that was able to enter the pavilion booed Kawhi Leonard, who is still not forgiven in San Antonio, but the forward did not flinch: 25 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals to lead a team that had an 18-point advantage already in the first quarter and that in the first half (53-67) scored 56% of its shots and 62% of his triples. ´
The triples that Paul George missed (0/6, 17 points), were made by Marcus Morris (5/7, 20 points), and they added Zubac (14 + 8), Batum (13 + 4 + 4) and Lou Williams (16). In the Spurs, the best was what Mills (17 points) and Samanic (14 and 4 rebounds) were contributing from the bench.
OKC THUNDER 107-MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES 116
Behind Mavericks and Spurs, the workers Grizzlies appear as ninth of the West, above 50% wins (21-20) after winning four of their last five games, the last with an effort to the Thunder, a team that is increasingly far (19-25) from the zone of play in. The Grizzlies and Warriors (22-22) close that strip with the Pelicans on the rise (19-24). The Thunder also announced that their star, the brilliant Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, will be out for a long time due to plantar fasciitis. As so many times better than anticipated and with a competitive tone, the OKC men came to have a 12-point advantage at the beginning of the third quarter, before a 12-33 part of the Grizzlies, who definitively took command and no longer did. they lost.
In his 100th NBA game, Ja Morant went from a very poor first half (1/7 shooting) to a good display in the second, finishing with 11 points and 7 assists. Dillon Brooks scored 25 points, Grayson Allen 20 and Jonas Valanciunas finished with 16 and 15 rebounds. In the Thunder, Al Horford (13 + 8 + 6) led a very young team: Pokusevski (13 points, 5 assists), Dort, Roby, Maledon, Moses Brown …