The third quarter did not merely widen Dallas’ problem in Minneapolis. It removed the possibility of solving it quietly.
The Mavericks trailed Minnesota 67-52 at halftime Thursday, a 15-point deficit against a team that had already shot well but had not yet made the game unreachable. Then the Timberwolves opened the third quarter with a 17-4 burst. By the end of the period, Minnesota led 103-69 and went on to win 133-94.
The first four minutes supplied the clearest explanation. Cooper Flagg opened the scoring with a free throw at 11:39, trimming the margin to 14. LaMelo Ball answered at 11:17 with a 31-foot 3-pointer. Ayo Dosunmu followed with a 22-foot jumper, Jaden McDaniels scored on a two-point basket and Jonathan Kuminga drove for another score. The margin moved from 67-53 to 77-53.
Dallas finally interrupted the sequence when Naji Marshall made a 23-foot 3-pointer at 9:21, cutting Minnesota’s lead to 21. The interruption lasted about as long as a breath. McDaniels scored on a tip at 8:44, Kuminga hit a 25-foot 3-pointer at 8:23 and Rudy Gobert finished an alley-oop layup at 8:02.
Minnesota was ahead 84-56, having scored 17 points to Dallas’ four since the quarter began.
That was the night’s central failure: Dallas needed a response immediately, and its response arrived only in fragments. The Timberwolves then won the quarter 36-17, turning a 15-point halftime lead into a 34-point separation. A comeback did not require a miracle at 67-52.
It required Dallas to string together enough sound possessions to keep the game within reach. Instead, Minnesota kept adding pressure while the Mavericks searched for a foothold.
The opponent deserves credit for making that search unpleasant. Ball finished with 22 points, nine assists and six 3-pointers in 10 attempts. Dosunmu scored 18, McDaniels had 16 and Kuminga added 14. Minnesota shot 52 of 90 from the field and 15 of 32 from 3-point range, while its 33 assists reflected scoring spread across the lineup rather than one isolated hot hand.
The interior numbers made the deficit harder to chase. Minnesota scored 74 points in the paint, compared with Dallas’ 42. Gobert’s alley-oop at 8:02 of the third quarter was a precise example of the Timberwolves continuing to create two-point answers while the Mavericks’ offense was trying to recover from the first wave. Minnesota also held a 50-38 edge in total rebounds.
Dallas had its own bright spot in Zaccharie Risacher, who scored 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting and made 4 of 8 3-pointers. His total matched the combined output of Flagg and Kyrie Irving. Flagg finished with 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting; Irving had 10 on 4-of-11.
