Wolves record: 24-57
For weeks, the Dallas Mavericks have been doing all they can to avoid a first-round matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers, using their best stretch of the season to step out of that.
On Monday night, they almost wasted it – against a lottery team, no less.
Trailing the Minnesota Timberwolves by seven points with 3:13 left, Dirk Nowitzki got his teammates going, then Jason Terry finished off the rally by swishing an 18-foot jumper from the right side with 0.2 seconds left for a 96-94 victory.
It was a game where it looked like the Wolves’ youngsters — with a little help from veteran Mike Miller — were getting it.
Miller scored 18 points, third-year forward Craig Smith added a season-high 24 and fifth-year guard Sebastian Telfair finished with 14.
Rookie Kevin Love had his 28th double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, which tied Christian Laettner’s franchise rookie single-season record.
Going into the game, the Wolves (24-57) had lost to the Mavs 11 straight times, including all three meetings this season. But they didn’t roll over with just one game left on the schedule and no postseason in sight, even though they had plenty of opportunities against a Mavs team that’s still trying to improve its playoff positioning.
Rick Carlisle used the word “persistent” no fewer than three times in talking about the Timberwolves, who led for the entire second half until Jet’s killer capped an 11-4 run.
“It was a good effort,” said Kevin McHale. “The guys played hard. We had opportunities. We had a couple of turnovers and that hurt us, and we had a couple of strips. Bassie went in, I looked at it again, a lot of contact with Dampier stepping in there but we didn’t get the call.”
Craig Smith was really the force behind Minny’s attack, recording 24 points and eight rebounds off the bench. He seemingly could do no wrong, with some of the craziest shots falling for him tonight.
“We came up poorly the last game,” explained Smith. “Today we wanted to come out, even though it’s the second to last game, to prove a point that we’re still competing, we’re still playing hard out there. Guys did a good job of that tonight. We kept ourselves in the game until the last few seconds.”
Mike Miller approached a triple-double — 18 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists — in the season’s second-to-last game…
Veteran guard Kevin Ollie played 19 minutes after he didn’t play Saturday because of an injured hip. Randy Foye did not make the trip and missed his eighth consecutive game because of that injured hip. McHale said there’s a chance Foye could play in Wednesday’s season finale against Sacramento, but that’s a long shot. “I won’t rule him out for Wednesday,” McHale said. “… I know he wants to play. It’s just a matter if he can.”