Wolves record: 21-54
Eddie Sefko/Star-Telegram recap
From the opening tip, Dallas controlled the pace of the game and used its size advantage from a variety of offensive options on the floor. The 6’9 Ryan Gomes had the unenviable task of defending the seven-foot Dirk Nowitzki at the power forward position. Nowitzki scored 23 points on 11-for-19 shooting from the post and the outside without much defensive pressure.
The Mavericks built a 26-point lead and never looked back as Jason Terry jumped off the bench to contribute 21 points. Terry joined the rest of the Dallas squad with an excellent shooting night; the team finished 55.4 percent from the field.
Kevin Love had 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who played their second straight game without Randy Foye and Craig Smith. It was the rookie’s 25th double-double, which is one more than the former MVP Nowitzki has.
With Foye out because of a hip injury and Al Jefferson on the bench with a torn ACL, the Timberwolves were without their two leading scorers and didn’t have the firepower to keep up with Dallas.
Carney, on whom the Wolves took a flyer in last summer’s salary-cap bookkeeping trade with Philadelphia, becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1. He has impressed at times with his athleticism, defense and three-point shooting, and has made it clear he feels like he’s found a home in Minnesota in his third NBA season.
Whether that feeling is mutual remains to be seen.
“I’d rather stay here than anywhere else,” he said on a night when the Wolves trailed by 20 points before halftime and by as many as 26 after it. “I feel comfortable here.”
Carney started Tuesday, played a team-high 40 minutes and delivered 14 points (on 5-for-15 shooting) and a career- high nine rebounds in a performance that displayed the kind of athleticism his team otherwise lacks.
In the end, though, it was just another loss for the Wolves (21-54), who haven’t won back-to-back games since a three-game run from Jan. 23-26 and still need one win to match last season’s total.
They have seven more chances, starting Friday at Utah.
Whether they’ll have Foye or Smith back in the lineup is uncertain, but they made quite a picture after Tuesday’s game, limping down the hall with center Al Jefferson and forward Corey Brewer, who are rehabbing season-ending knee injuries.
25 Kevin Love’s double-double of the season (23 points, 12 rebounds), three shy of Christian Laettner’s Timberwolves rookie record.