NBA: Julius Randle fires in 31 as Timberwolves take down Mavs

Julius Randle scored a game-high 31 points, and Anthony Edwards added 20 points, six rebounds, and six assists to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 118-105 road win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.

Naz Reid provided a spark off the bench with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting as Minnesota snapped a five-game losing streak with its second consecutive win.

P.J. Washington led the Mavericks with 21 points, all coming in the second half. Naji Marshall added 18 points and six rebounds, while Brandon Williams contributed 17 off the bench. Dallas dropped its second straight game after a four-game winning streak.

Randle surpassed the 30-point mark on a layup that gave Minnesota a 116-103 lead with 2:39 remaining. He scored 11 points in the third quarter, while Edwards added nine, helping the Timberwolves take a 92-75 advantage into the fourth.

Marshall tried to keep Dallas in the game with 10 third-quarter points. The Mavericks cut the deficit to 80-72 with a 7-0 run, but Minnesota responded with a 12-3 surge to close the period, capped by a final-second tip-in from Joan Beringer.

Minnesota’s largest lead of the first half came on Randle’s layup with 4:42 left in the second quarter, putting the Timberwolves up 48-36. Dallas made four consecutive free throws to cut the deficit to six, but Edwards answered with four points to extend the lead to 54-44. Randle’s two free throws with 2.9 seconds left in the half gave Minnesota a 58-48 edge at the break.

Dallas shot just 34.9% in the first half, going 2-of-10 from 3-point range, while Minnesota hit 43.8% of its field goals and 4-of-17 (23.5%) from beyond the arc. For the game, Minnesota narrowly outshot Dallas, 45.7% to 45.2%, and finished 12-of-34 (35.3%) from three-point range compared to 3-of-18 (16.7%) for the Mavericks.

-Field Level Media/Reuters