The Minnesota Timberwolves still feel the pain from their last game against the Dallas Mavericks.
On May 30, the Mavericks completed a 4-1 series victory over the Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals. Dallas moved on to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics, while the Timberwolves’ strong season ended abruptly.
The two teams will face off again on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
“We’re looking forward to it,” said Timberwolves guard Mike Conley. “We understand how we felt the last time we played them. You don’t want anyone celebrating on your home court. That’s our last memory, so we’ll be ready.”
Minnesota coach Chris Finch shared this sentiment. He mentioned that this early-season matchup not only brings back old feelings but also serves as a way to measure how the Timberwolves stack up in the current season.
“Yeah, of course (we’re) looking forward to it,” Finch said. “It’s great to be tested early in the season against a strong team. It’s what you want. …
“They deserved to win that series. They outplayed us. But much of that series was close. We were capable of doing well last year, but we didn’t shoot very well. This is a new team, a new season, so we’ll see.”
Dallas will be playing with less rest after securing a 110-102 home win against the Utah Jazz on Monday night. Kyrie Irving led the Mavericks with 23 points and nine assists, while Klay Thompson added 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting.
Luka Doncic had 15 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists but had a tough night shooting, going 5 of 22 overall and 1 of 9 from three-point range.
“He’s human and we saw that tonight,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd. “But I thought he really leaned on his teammates to create plays and get wide-open looks.” Despite this, the Mavericks still won their second game in three tries.
Like Dallas, the Timberwolves are aiming for their third win in four games to begin the season. Minnesota lost their first game against the Los Angeles Lakers but bounced back with two wins against the Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors.
Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards is averaging 27.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists. Julius Randle is adding 24.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, while Naz Reid is contributing 13.7 points along with seven rebounds per game.
Luka Doncic leads Dallas with 27.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 6.7 assists over three games. The 25-year-old has played against the Timberwolves 15 times in the regular season and averages 24.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 7.4 assists in those games. In last spring’s playoff series, he performed even better, averaging 32.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 8.2 assists.
Mavericks player Maxi Kleber is expected to miss his second straight game on Tuesday against Minnesota. He sat out Monday’s game against the Jazz after straining his right hamstring in Dallas’ loss to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.
Kidd mentioned that Kleber’s injury doesn’t seem serious. “Not long term,” Kidd said. “… We’ll see how everything turns out here in the next couple of days and give a timeline.”
