Timberwolves Rout Mavericks 133-94 Behind Ball and Hyland

The Minnesota Timberwolves routed the Dallas Mavericks 133-94 on Thursday night at Target Center, outscoring Dallas 36-17 in the third quarter to turn a close game into a blowout. Bones Hyland scored 24 points off the bench and LaMelo Ball had 22 points and nine assists for Minnesota, which improved to 9-3. Zaccharie Risacher led Dallas with 22 points. The Mavericks fell to 7-5.

Minnesota led 34-26 after one quarter and 67-52 at halftime. Ball set the pace early with seven assists in the first half, one of them a pass inside that Jonathan Kuminga finished with a dunk. Ball hit six of his 10 three-point shots and Minnesota shot 57.8 percent from the field for the game. The third quarter settled it. Minnesota won the period by 19 points and led by as many as 44 on the night.

Depth did the damage

Six Timberwolves scored in double figures and none of them needed more than 27 minutes. Hyland hit five of his six three-point shots and added eight assists in 22 minutes off the bench. Ayo Dosunmu scored 18 points, Jaden McDaniels had 16 points and nine rebounds, and Kuminga finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Rookie Joan Beringer added 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Minnesota won the rebounding battle 61-44 and outscored Dallas 74-42 in the paint. Rudy Gobert had nine points, six rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes.

Dallas shot 37.2 percent and got little from its stars. Cooper Flagg scored 12 points on 5 of 12 shooting with seven rebounds, and Kyrie Irving scored 10 points on 4 of 11 shooting. Naji Marshall added 13 points off the bench.

Why it matters

Minnesota won big without Anthony Edwards, who was inactive with an injury, and without Donte DiVincenzo. The Timberwolves entered the night 8-3 and their depth carried a 39-point win against a Dallas team that had won seven of its first 11 games. Dallas was missing center Dereck Lively II and still had no answer inside, where Minnesota scored 74 points.

What happens next

Minnesota sits at 9-3 near the top of the Western Conference with Edwards still out. The ball movement held up all night: Minnesota finished with 33 assists against 26 for Dallas, hit 15 of its 32 three-point shots, and got scoring from all 12 players who entered the game. Dallas heads home at 7-5 to regroup after its worst loss of the season by margin.