NBA Picks 1/22 – Minnesota Timberwolves @ Dallas Mavericks

by Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com
The Minnesota Timberwolves (22-21) visit the Dallas Mavericks (23-20) tonight at American Airlines Center on ESPN. This is the third and final regular season meeting between these teams. The visiting team won the first two matchups with Dallas winning 120-114 in Minnesota on Oct. 29 and Minnesota holding on for a 105-99 win on Christmas Day at Dallas.
These squads have developed a bit of a rivalry after the Mavericks dispatched of the upstart Timberwolves 4-1 in the Western Conference finals last season in May. Minnesota is a 2-point favorite and the total is 217.
Minnesota is coming off a 108-106 loss at Memphis on Monday. Minnesota blew a nine-point lead with 6:53 remaining in the fourth quarter. Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 32 points (8-19 FG, 3-8 3Pt, 13-18 FT), he missed the potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer. Naz Reid added 29 points (11-20 FG, 5-10 3Pt, 2-2 FT) and 8 rebounds in 33 minutes off the bench. Minnesota has lost three of their last four games.
Dallas is coming off a 110-105 loss at Charlotte on Monday afternoon. Kyrie Irving finished with a game-high 33 points (11-24 FG, 3-8 3Pt, 8-9 FT), along with four rebounds, three assists and three steals across 41 minutes. It was his seventh game with 30+ points this season.
Daniel Gafford posted a monster game with a career-high 31 points, 15 rebounds, 7 blocks, 3 assists and a steal over 34 minutes. Dallas has lost four of their last five games and three straight at home.
NBA Picks 1/22 – Minnesota Timberwolves @ Dallas Mavericks
GAME STORYLINES: DALLAS
On Jun. 21, 2018, the Dallas Mavericks made what turned out to be a franchise-altering decision when they selected Trae Young with the fifth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and then traded him to the Atlanta Hawks for the third overall pick Luka Doncic.
The trade has worked out tremendously for Dallas as Luka Doncic has become arguably the best player in the NBA who has led Dallas to the Western Conference finals twice and the NBA Finals last year. Coming into the season, Doncic’ accolades include winning the 2018-19 Rookie of the Year, making the All-Star team 5 times and being named to the All-NBA first team 4 times over six seasons.
After failing to get a high-level player to pair with Luka Doncic — Dallas let guard Jalen Brunson walk as a free agent in 2022 only to watch him immediately transform into a superstar with the Knicks and the acquisition of talented big man Kristaps Porzingis in January 2019 fizzled out after two seasons — Dallas traded for enigmatic free-agent-to-be point guard Kyrie Irving in February 2023.
The move appeared to be a complete failure initially after Dallas finished with a disappointing 38-44 record and did not make the playoffs in 2023. But Kyrie surprisingly agreed to a 3-year, $126 million contract to stay with Dallas in July 2023.
Kyrie Irving’s decision to stay with Dallas, along with the trade deadline acquisitions of P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford and the continued brilliance of Luka Doncic led to a 50-32 record in 2023-24. The 50 wins was a 12-game improvement over the previous season. Dallas finished as the No. 5 seed in the West and made it all the way to the NBA Finals where they fell to Boston in 5 games.
Expectations for Dallas were high coming into the season due to last season’s success and the addition of sharpshooter Klay Thompson as a free agent in July. Everything seemed to be going well for Dallas until Christmas Day (Dec. 25) when Luka Doncic suffered a left calf strain in the first half of a nationally televised game against Minnesota. He did not return to that game and has not played since. Doncic has missed the last 13 games and is not expected back until at least February.
Dallas has gone 4-9 during this stretch without Luka Doncic and are losing ground in the highly competitive Western Conference. Doncic also missed a total of 8 games in November due to a right knee contusion, a right wrist sprain and a left heel contusion. Doncic is averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 2 steals and 3.4 threes per game on 46.4 percent shooting from the floor through 22 games on the season.
The foursome of point guard Kyrie Irving (24.2 pts, 4.8 asts, 4.5 rebs, 1.3 stls, 3 threes per game, 48% from 2, 43% from 3, 90% FT), swingman Klay Thompson (13.6 pts, 3.4 rebs, 2.9 threes per game, 89% FT), power forward/center P.J. Washington (13.1 pts, 7.8 rebs, 1.3 stls, 1 blk) and center Daniel Gafford (12.1 pts, 6.2 rebs, 1.6 blks, 71% from 2) will look to keep Dallas afloat until Luka Doncic returns.
NBA Picks 1/22 – Minnesota Timberwolves @ Dallas Mavericks
GAME STORYLINES: MINNESOTA
After departing with franchise icon Kevin Garnett in July 2007, the Minnesota Timberwolves went through about 15 years of unsatisfactory seasons. Through all the despair they were able to land the No. 1 overall pick in 2015 and 2020, and selected Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards respectively. Both guys quickly became All-Star caliber players in the NBA. Minnesota also traded for three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert in July 2022.
The trio of Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert propelled Minnesota to the top of the Western Conference last season as they finished third in the Western Conference with a 56-26 record. The 56 victories was  Minnesota’s highest win total since 2003-04 when they won 58 games behind the excellence of 2004 NBA MVP Kevin Garnett. Minnesota also advanced to the Western Conference finals for the first time since that 2004 team did it.
Minnesota appeared to be a championship contender after last season’s tremendous success but on Oct. 2, 2024, Minnesota shocked many when they traded All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks in exchange for a trade package that featured All-Star forward Julius Randle, shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo and a Knicks future first-round pick. It seemed to be a puzzling move when you consider Minnesota won 56 games and advanced to the Western Conference finals last season but its rumored that Minnesota believed Karl-Anthony Towns 4-year, $220 million contract — that was set to begin this year — would hamstrung the franchise moving forward and they wanted more flexibility to improve the team.
Trading All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns has provided underwhelming results through the first 43 games of the season as Minnesota sits at just 22-21 heading into tonight’s contest and they are currently 9th in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, the New York Knicks are currently 29-16 — third in the Eastern Conference — with Towns. To further illustrate the decline, Minnesota was 30-13 through 43 games last season. The absence of Towns has led to a defensive drop off and poor team chemistry.
Despite the team’s somewhat disappointing start, superstar guard Anthony Edwards is putting together another outstanding season. The 23-year-old, two-time All-Star is averaging a career-high 26.3 points per game along with 5.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 4.2 threes while shooting 44.2 percent from the floor and 42.8 percent from long distance.
Edwards has played in all 43 of Minnesota’s games this year. In Sunday’s 124-117 loss to Cleveland at home, Edwards became the third-youngest player in NBA history — behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant — to score 8,000 points.
Forward Julius Randle (18.9 pts, 7.3 rebs, 4.5 asts, 47.2% from 2 in 43 games), super sub Naz Reid (13.7 pts, 5.2 rebs, 2.1 threes, 47.8% from 2, 40.4% from 3) and shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo (11 pts, 3.7 rebs, 3.6 asts, 1.2 stls, 2.6 threes) are having good seasons in a supporting role alongside Anthony Edwards. The 30-year-old Randle’s numbers are down a bit this year with Minnesota as his usage is lower due to playing with Edwards.
Randle had been a 20-10 guy for the last 6 seasons with the Knicks and New Orleans Pelicans. DiVincenczo will be out for at least the next two months after suffering a Grade 3 left great toe sprain against Golden State on Jan. 15. He’d been averaging 17.5 ppg over the previous 6 games since being inserted into the starting lineup over Mike Conley.
THE PICK: TIMBERWOLVES (-2)
Both teams are somewhat struggling heading into this game but Dallas looks to be completely lost without its superstar and leader Luka Doncic. I think their woes continue tonight on ESPN. Lay the points and take the Timberwolves!

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NBA Picks 1/22 – Minnesota Timberwolves @ Dallas Mavericks

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