What to Know
The Dallas Mavericks’ homestand continues as they prepare to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at 8:30 p.m. ET Feb. 8 at American Airlines Center. Dallas should still be feeling good after a win, while Minnesota will be looking to get back in the win column.
It was a close one, but this past Saturday the Mavericks sidestepped the Golden State Warriors for a 134-132 victory. Dallas’ point guard Luka Doncic did his thing and shot 7-for-12 from downtown and finished with a double-double on 42 points and 11 assists in addition to seven boards.
How To Watch
- When: Monday at 8:30 p.m. ET
- Where: American Airlines Center — Dallas, Texas
- TV: Fox Sports – North
- Follow: Here’s how you can watch the game.
Speaking of close games: it was close but no cigar for Minnesota as they fell 120-118 to the Oklahoma City Thunder this past Saturday. Minnesota were close to capping off a huge comeback (they were down 83-62 at the end of the half), but they just didn’t have quite enough oomph. Despite their defeat, they got to see several of their players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. center Naz Reid, who had 29 points along with six rebounds, was the best among equals.
The Mavericks are the favorite in this one, with an expected 8.5-point margin of victory. Their home court has been no bettor’s paradise, though, as they’ve failed to beat the spread in eight of their ten home games.
Minnesota’s loss took them down to 6-17 while Dallas’ win pulled them up to 10-14. Allowing an average of 115.04 points per game, the Timberwolves haven’t exactly asserted themselves on the defensive end. We’ll see if they can patch up the holes in their defense before their upcoming game.
Dallas got a much-needed win over Golden State on Saturday, despite a cool 57 points from Steph Curry and now sit at 10-14. The Minnesota Timberwolves sit at the bottom of the West at 6-17. After losing six in a row, the Mavericks have now won two of their last three games. Now the schedule is easing up and it might be time for a run.
Minnesota is coming off of a weekend back-to-back against Oklahoma City; winning on Friday by three and losing on Saturday by two.
Before we get into what to watch for, here’s my extremely hot take: the Mavericks will give up 20 and 10 to somebody who has no business playing so well. Here’s lookin’ at you, Ed Davis and/or Ricky Rubio.
Here’s three things to keep an eye on:
The continued saga of Kristaps Porzingis
Porzingis’ production has been a big topic in NBA media over the last couple of weeks. I heard multiple reporters/pundits say that he looked like he was playing on stilts—and they weren’t wrong. That being said, there was some cautious murmuring in the Mavs Moneyball slack that Porzingis looked like he was moving better during Saturday’s win against the Warriors. Golden State was still attacking him every chance they got so things obviously aren’t great, but hey, progress is progress.
In four games in February, Porzingis is averaging 21.5 points, 9 rebounds, and a little more than 2 assists and 1 block per game. He’s shooting 46 percent, and almost 38 percent from three. This is a Kristaps we can live with, and hopefully he continues to improve.
Karl-Anthony and D’Angelo
Minnesota’s “big two” are both listed as day-to-day for Monday’s game, D’Angelo Russell with a quad strain and Karl Anthony-Towns with an unfortunately long bout of dealing with NBA health and safety protocols due to a positive COVID test. Russell is averaging 19.7 points and 5.3 assists per game. Towns is averaging 22 and 12.5 rebounds per game in the four games he’s played this season. These two were supposed to be the present and the future of the Timberwolves (as questionable as that may have been) and they have shown flashes of being a fun pairing. If they remain unable to go, hopefully Dallas can feast on Minnesota’s other fun, young duo — Malik Beasley and Anthony Edwards.
Luka’s three-point shooting
Luka Doncic, he of the nine nicknames on Basketball Reference, is officially having the best three-point shooting season of his career — by one thousandth of a percent. Shooting 31.7 percent on 7.1 attempts per game is ultimately NOT where we need Luka to be, but we’re trending up. In the first 10 games of the season Luka hit 19-of-73 threes, good for an ice-cold 26 percent. In the last 10 games Luka has shot a much more respectable 27-of-74 — 36 percent is a number the Mavericks can live with. If we narrow that down to just the past five games, Luka is shooting nearly 43 percent. Were he able to continue at that rate, he’ll find himself back in the MVP race sooner rather than later.
Odds
The Mavericks are a big 8.5-point favorite against the Timberwolves, according to the latest NBA odds.
The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as an 8.5-point spread, and stayed right there.
Over/Under: -112
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Series History
Dallas have won ten out of their last 17 games against Minnesota.
- Mar 01, 2020 – Dallas 111 vs. Minnesota 91
- Feb 24, 2020 – Dallas 139 vs. Minnesota 123
- Dec 04, 2019 – Dallas 121 vs. Minnesota 114
- Apr 03, 2019 – Minnesota 110 vs. Dallas 108
- Jan 11, 2019 – Dallas 119 vs. Minnesota 115
- Oct 20, 2018 – Dallas 140 vs. Minnesota 136
- Mar 30, 2018 – Minnesota 93 vs. Dallas 92
- Dec 10, 2017 – Minnesota 97 vs. Dallas 92
- Nov 17, 2017 – Minnesota 111 vs. Dallas 87
- Nov 04, 2017 – Minnesota 112 vs. Dallas 99
- Feb 24, 2017 – Minnesota 97 vs. Dallas 84
- Jan 15, 2017 – Dallas 98 vs. Minnesota 87
- Jan 09, 2017 – Minnesota 101 vs. Dallas 92
- Apr 03, 2016 – Dallas 88 vs. Minnesota 78
- Feb 28, 2016 – Dallas 128 vs. Minnesota 101
- Jan 20, 2016 – Dallas 106 vs. Minnesota 94
- Jan 10, 2016 – Dallas 93 vs. Minnesota 87
