Wolves 112, Mavericks 125

Written by SG

Monday, 08 March 2010 23:53

Wolves record: 14-50

On a night when Al Jefferson had a season-high 36 points and 13 rebounds, the Timberwolves had too many ball-handling issues and defensive breakdowns to cause concern for the high-flying Dallas Mavericks.

The Wolves' 125-112 loss Monday night at Target Center generated some unflattering numbers that almost overshadowed Jefferson's return from his two-game suspension for a Feb. 28 DWI arrest near downtown Minneapolis.

How unflattering? Try 25 turnovers, including eight by point guard Jonny Flynn, and 4-of-22 shooting on three-pointers.

From Jonah Ballow/Timberwolves site:

Jefferson was fantastic in his return to the floor following the two-game suspension served this past week. He jumped out to a terrific start, scoring 11 points in five minutes to give Minnesota a 21-13 first quarter lead. Dallas answered quickly, dominating the next seven minutes, outscoring the Wolves 21-6 to build a sizable advantage. Jefferson finished with 36 points, the highest scoring output for a Minnesota player this season and he also snagged a team-high 13 boards.

"My confidence has been up, I have kind of lost my confidence in the past two weeks before my little trouble and I got my confidence back and I know what I'm able to do," Jefferson said.

From Phil Miller/NBA.com:

A dozen straight wins, matter of fact, the Mavs' longest winning streak since 2006. But particularly gratifying for Dallas was how the streak was extended, considering that Brendan Haywood was sidelined by a sore back, Erick Dampier by an injured finger, and Jason Terry by facial surgery. The absence of Dampier and Haywood forced Dallas to play a small lineup for long stretches -- the Mavs defaulted into a zone defense much of the time, hoping to contain Wolves scoring machine Al Jefferson by collapsing around him -- and the tactic mostly worked.

Yes, Jefferson became the first Timberwolf to surpass 30 points this season by pounding his way to the basket for 36 points, and yes, point guard Ramon Sessions exploited the seams of the zone to get to the basket for five layups. But the rest of the Wolves combined to make just 35.4 percent of their shots over the zone, dooming Minnesota to its sixth straight loss and 12th in its last 13 games.

From Jerry Zgoda/Star Tribune:

• While Love played a season-low 12 minutes and none in the fourth quarter, Sasha Pavlovic played nearly 21 minutes. Rambis opted instead for Hollins or Darko Milicic in the fourth because he said he needed someone who could attack Dirk Nowitzki offensively and defend him, as well.

"He [Love] didn't look like he had any energy to play in stretches and a lot of it had to do with matchups," Rambis said.

• Hollins was ejected with 3:48 left against his former team after he hit Nowitzki in the head with his left hand while flailing for the ball. Officials reviewed video to confirm their initial flagrant foul Type-2 call. "Our guys want to win," Rambis said. "They are trying to fight. They are being aggressive. I like Ryan Hollins' aggressiveness. I don't always like his decision-making, but I like his aggressiveness. When guys play hard, there's a lot of physical contact and tempers flare.