Julius Randle fires in 31 as Timberwolves take down Mavs
Julius Randle scored a game-high 31 points and Anthony Edwards added 20 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 118-105 road win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
Naz Reid was a force for the Timberwolves with 23 points off the bench on 9-for-17 shooting. Minnesota earned its second win in a row after a five-game losing streak.
P.J. Washington led the way for the Mavericks with 21 points, all coming in the second half. Naji Marshall finished with 18 points and six rebounds and Brandon Williams added 17 off the bench as Dallas dropped its second consecutive game after winning four straight.
Randle broke the 30-point mark on a layup that gave the Timberwolves a 116-103 lead with 2:39 remaining.
Randle scored 11 points in the third quarter and Edwards added nine, helping Minnesota take a 92-75 lead into the fourth.
Marshall tried to keep the Mavericks in the game, scoring 10 points in the third. Dallas used a 7-0 run to cut its deficit to 80-72 with 3:27 left in the period, but the Timberwolves responded with a 12-3 run to end the quarter, capped by a final-second tip-in from Joan Beringer.
The Timberwolves' largest lead of the first half was 12 points, as Randle's layup with 4:42 remaining in the second quarter gave Minnesota a 48-36 advantage.
With the score 50-40, the Mavericks made four consecutive free throws to cut the deficit to six. Edwards, however, responded with four points of his own to give Minnesota a 54-44 lead.
Randle's two free throws with 2.9 seconds left in the second quarter helped the Timberwolves take a 58-48 lead into the half. Dallas shot 34.9% from the floor in the first half and went 2-for-10 from 3-point range, while Minnesota hit 43.8% of its field-goal attempts and sank 4 of 17 (23.5%) from long distance.
Overall on the night, Minnesota barely outshot Dallas from the floor, 45.7% to 45.2%, but the Timberwolves finished 12 of 34 (35.3%) from beyond the arc while the Mavericks made just 3 of 18 (16.7%).