{"id":174505,"date":"2026-02-21T17:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/174505\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T17:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:58:12","slug":"mavs-stumble-vs-wolves-is-latest-example-of-franchises-opposite-directions-since-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/174505\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavs\u2019 stumble vs. Wolves is latest example of franchises\u2019 opposite directions since 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 It doesn\u2019t take long for things to change in the NBA.<\/p>\n

Nearly two years ago, the Mavericks<\/a> and Minnesota Timberwolves met in the Western Conference Finals. Both teams were led by young superstars and appeared to be championship contenders for years to come.<\/p>\n

That is no longer the case, at least for Dallas. Minnesota reached the NBA\u2019s Final Four again in 2025 and remain competitive enough to accomplish the feat for a third straight year, but the Mavericks recently hit the reset button to rebuild for the future<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks suffered a 122-111 loss to the Timberwolves on Friday, which increased their season-long losing streak to 10 games, the first double-digit losing streak for the franchise since 1998.<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/p>\n

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Dallas finishes the season series winless against Minnesota (0-3) and has struggled against the Wolves with a 1-5 record since that Western Conference Finals clash.<\/p>\n

The home stretch of the NBA season has officially started, but the Mavericks (19-36) struggled Friday despite the seven-day layoff from games courtesy of the All-Star break, mainly because of the lack of available bodies on the bench.<\/p>\n

Playing shorthanded has been the story of the last two seasons for the Mavericks since their gentleman\u2019s sweep of the Wolves in the 2024 Western Conference Finals. Friday wasn\u2019t an exception, but both teams are vastly different in 2026, especially the Mavericks \u2014 who once relied on Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, but have since passed the baton of the franchise to Cooper Flagg.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks played without Irving and Flagg, who missed his second straight game with a left midfoot sprain<\/a>. At 19 years old, Flagg is already the No. 1 option for the Mavericks and their primary source for offense, whether it be from his own hands or his teammates.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks nearly matched Minnesota\u2019s firepower without their rookie sensation and Max Christie, who missed Friday\u2019s game with a left ankle sprain. Dallas finished with shooting splits of 42.3% from the field and 32% from the 3-point line, compared to Minnesota\u2019s clips of 47.5% and 38.1%.<\/p>\n

The loss was a similar outcome to earlier this season when the Mavericks suffered a 24-point loss on Nov. 17 without Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II and Kyrie Irving<\/a>. They also had a 13-point loss in Dallas in a game without Flagg on Jan. 28<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Wolves had the full allotment of their players, including Anthony Edwards, who was fresh off a marvelous performance in Los Angeles that led to his first All-Star MVP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Edwards may not want to be looked at as the face of the league, but he remains the head of the snake for the Timberwolves and he used the momentum gained from his successful weekend in Los Angeles to torch the Mavericks for 40 points and 6 rebounds. <\/p>\n

Edwards dazzled throughout the night. His signature moment occurred with 4 minutes and 48 seconds left when he scooped in a floater over PJ Washington and Gafford to give the Wolves a sizable six-point lead. He pointed to both players and stared at his left hand, almost in disbelief to celebrate the moment.<\/p>\n

Rudy Gobert added a double-double of 22 points and 17 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Those two mainstays from the West Finals are part of the reason why Minnesota has a good case to make another deep playoff run, along with Plano native Julius Randle and backup big man Naz Reid. The veteran center produced the best sequence of the game with a behind-the-back dribble in transition that led to a thunderous poster dunk over Gafford in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Without Flagg and Christie, the re-tooled Mavericks are trying to figure out how to play with each other once again after an active trade deadline that brought Khris Middleton, Marvin Bagley III, Tyus Jones and AJ Johnson into the fold.<\/p>\n

Before the game, Jason Kidd was asked how his team would produce offense without Flagg and simply said: \u201cNext man up.\u201d Seven players scored in double figures and played pivotal parts in the well-balanced offensive efforts.<\/p>\n

Middleton produced his best game since joining the Mavericks with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Naji Marshall scored 15 points with 5 rebounds. Bagley added another solid performance with 15 points and 13 boards, his second double-double in his first four games with the Mavericks. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is on the fly,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting to know Bags and Middleton and Tyus. We don\u2019t have a lot of practice time here so understanding this is real time. We\u2019re trying to help each other. I thought the group did a really good job there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, who was a two-way player in 2024, is one of six players still on the roster from nearly two seasons ago who beat the Wolves. He had 13 points off the bench.<\/p>\n

Wolves coach Chris Finch was asked during his pregame news conference about the rapid pace of how circumstances can change in the NBA, citing the Memphis Grizzlies as the perfect example. The Grizzlies reached the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, but they traded most of that core and are headed toward the draft lottery this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you have to embrace the opportunities when you\u2019re there,\u201d Finch said. \u201cFor one reason or another, things might change quickly on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Dallas\u2019 case, trading Doncic for Davis and subsequent injury misfortune caused a plummet to the bottom of the conference, but Flagg provides hope for a franchise seeking a return to the top.<\/p>\n

At the rate the NBA is headed, with seven champions over the last seven seasons, it\u2019s quite possible fortunes can improve nearly as fast as they declined.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings change really, really fast,\u201d Finch said, \u201cand you kind of gotta go for it when you\u2019ve got that chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Twitter\/X: @MikeACurtis2<\/a><\/p>\n

Mavericks\u2019 Cooper Flagg set to appear on NBC\u2019s \u2018The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon\u2019<\/a>NBA Commissioner Adam Silver talks anti-tanking options with GMs, per multiple reports<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 It doesn\u2019t take long for things to change in the NBA. Nearly two years ago, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4642,102,104,2582,103,4280,4646,4281,3080,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-174505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-cooper-flagg","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-mavericks","12":"tag-dallas-news","13":"tag-jason-kidd","14":"tag-luka-doncic","15":"tag-mavericks","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}