On December 15, 2023, Beijing time, in today's NBA game, the 15-8 Mavericks hosted the 17-5 Timberwolves, and Irving was absent from the Mavericks, starters: Doncic + Exum + Jones + Gwee + Lively, Timberwolves starters: Conley + Edwards + Madan + Towns + Gobert. In terms of lineup, the Timberwolves have the advantage, but Doncic is too capable individually, can he single-handedly lead the team to defeat the Timberwolves, who are the No. 1 in the West?
In the first quarter of the game, Gwee scored three points, Conley responded with a layup, Doncic scored in a row, Lively dunked, the Mavericks stopped the Timberwolves 13-2, Doncic 3+1 after the timeout, the difference came to 15 points, Conley, Towns, and Walker chased the difference to 6 points to stop the Mavericks, and after the timeout came back, Lively, Jones, and Doncic scored, Reed hit three points, Gobert dunked in the air, the difference was 3 points, Exum, Hardaway scored, Gobert made 1 of 2 free throws, Lee Kaier hooked up and scored 4 points, leading the Mavericks 30-26 in the first quarter, and Doncic scored 16 points and 4 assists on 6-of-10 shooting in the first quarter.
In the second quarter of the game, Exum made 2 free throws and 2 hits, the Mavericks led by 6 points, Gobert, Conley, and Reed scored, Morris, Hardy, and Exum responded, and the difference was 7 points, Brown and Reed chased the difference to 3 points, Exum, Doncic, and Lively expanded the difference to 11 points to stop the Timberwolves, and after the timeout came back, Walker scored 5 points in a row, Reed scored three points, and the difference was chased to 3 points to stop the Mavericks. Reed scored 3 points, Doncic made 2 of 2 free throws, Edwards responded with 2 of 2 free throws, Doncic scored 4 points in a row, and the Mavericks led by 1 point, and the Mavericks led 60-59 at halftime.
Doncic had 26 points, 2 rebounds and 8 assists on 9-of-15 shooting in the half, Exum had 9 points and 3 assists, Lively had 8 points and 5 boards, and Reed scored 19 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists on 6-of-7 shooting (5-of-6 three-pointers) for the Timberwolves, with Walker scoring 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting, Towns scoring 8 points and 7 boards on 3-of-6 shooting, and Edwards scoring 6 points and 5 assists on 2-of-11 shooting.
In the third quarter of the game, Doncic made free throws, Exum scored three points, the Mavericks led by 5 points, Madan and Towns scored 5 points in a row to tie the difference, Gwee and Doncic scored, Towns scored 4 points in a row, Conley made 2 free throws and 2 hits, the Timberwolves overtook 2 points, Doncic and Lively overtook 2 points, Downs and Madan overtook 2 points, Hardaway shot, Conley and Madan scored 5 points in a row, the Timberwolves led by 5 points, the game was suspended, after the timeout came back, Gobert made a layup, Edwards made 2 free throws and 1 hit, the Timberwolves led by 8 points, Powell, Hardaway chased the deficit to three points, and Edwards made a layup to give the Timberwolves an 87-82 lead after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter of the game, Lee Kyle throws, the Timberwolves lead by 7 points, Doncic shoots, Brown and Lee Kyle score 5 points in a row to respond, the difference is 10 points to stop the Mavericks, after the pause comes back, Lively, Doncic score, Gobert, Reed responded strongly, the difference was 13 points, Lively 2 + 1, Reed responded with three points, the difference was still 13 points, Doncic scored, Madan made a layup, Conley scored three points, a difference of 16 points to stop the Mavericks, with 3 minutes and 20 seconds left in the game, Exum scored after the timeout, Towns scored 5 points in a row, the difference was 19 points, and there was more than 1 minute left in the game, the Mavericks Ming Jin closed the troops, and finally the Timberwolves defeated the Mavericks 119-101.
The Timberwolves came back from 15 points down in the opening game and 1 point down at halftime, showing the strength of the first place in the West, before the Celtics won the first game, surpassing the Timberwolves to become the first in the league, but the Timberwolves returned to the first place in the league after beating the Mavericks. After the Mavericks lost, they were overtaken by the Nuggets, who became third in the West and the Mavericks fourth.
Towns had 21 points, 17 rebounds and 2 assists on 8-of-14 shooting, Edwards had 9 points, 2 rebounds and 11 assists on 3-of-19 shooting, 5 turnovers and an embarrassing shooting efficiency, and Reed scored 27 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists on 8-of-14 shooting (7-of-11 from three-point range), and he once again made a big contribution to the Timberwolves, setting a career record by shooting seven three-pointers. Conley had 14 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, Walker had 13 points and 1 board, Maidan had 11 points and 2 boards, and Gobert had 8 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists.
Doncic scored 39 points, 6 rebounds, 13 assists and 2 steals on 15-of-27 shooting, but unfortunately had 8 turnovers, and after this game, he tied Nowitzki with 35+ points and tied for the first place in team history. Lively had a strong performance with 15 points, six rebounds and two blocks on 7-of-9 shooting, while Exum had 14 points, four rebounds and four assists on 5-of-6 shooting, Hardaway had 10 points and four boards on 4-of-15 shooting, Gervais had five points and three boards on 2-of-11 shooting, and Jones had three points and four boards on 1-of-8 shooting.