Bones Hyland scored 24 points on 7-for-10 shooting off the bench, and the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised to a 133-94 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night in Minneapolis.
LaMelo Ball added 22 points and nine assists for Minnesota, which won its fifth game in a row despite the injury absence of star guard Anthony Edwards. Ayo Dosunmu scored 18 points on 8-for-15 shooting, and Jaden McDaniels recorded 16 points and nine rebounds.
Zaccharie Risacher scored 22 points off the bench to lead Dallas, whose three-game winning streak ended. Naji Marshall finished with 13 points off the bench, and Cooper Flagg scored 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
Minnesota shot 57.8% (52 of 90) from the field and 46.9% (15 of 32) from 3-point range. Dallas shot 37.2% (35 of 94) overall and 27.1% (13 of 48) from beyond the arc.
The Timberwolves dominated the Mavericks in the paint, outscoring them 74-42. They led by as many as 44 points in the second half.
The Timberwolves sprinted to a 67-52 lead at the break.
Dallas cut the deficit to 43-42 when Risacher made a dunk with 6:53 to go in the half.
Ball made a driving layup on the next possession, and the scoring binge started for Minnesota. The Timberwolves finished the second quarter on a 24-10 run to seize a 15-point lead.
The trend continued in the third quarter, which Minnesota started on a 17-4 run. Jonathan Kuminga knocked down a 3-pointer and Rudy Gobert finished an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Ball to put the Timberwolves on top 84-56 with 8:02 to go in the third quarter.
By the end of the third quarter, the Timberwolves led by 34. Hyland made a layup to give Minnesota a 103-69 lead heading into the final 12 minutes.
Rookie Isaiah Evans gave Minnesota its largest lead of the game in the fourth quarter. He made a finger-roll layup to put the Timberwolves ahead by 44 points, with a lead of 129-85, with 2:47 remaining in the fourth quarter.
–Field Level Media
