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Mavericks at Timberwolves: Minnesota keeps winning without Anthony Edwards as Dallas rolls into Target Center

The Wolves have won four in a row, sat fifth in the West in Tuesday night's standings and have been without the player who led their scoring since October 26. Dallas arrives off a 125-122 win over Indiana in which Cooper Flagg scored 43 and Kyrie Irving 35 — and has lost the last five meetings in this series.

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Exterior of Target Center in Minneapolis with the arena name sign above the entrance; 2013 file photograph.
The exterior of Target Center in Minneapolis, where the Mavericks visit the Timberwolves. File photo from 2013. © Jeramey Jannene / Wikimedia Commons

Anthony Edwards played four games this season, averaged 33.2 points and finished his run with 47 at Cleveland on October 26. Minnesota has gone 5-2 since, has won four in a row and, at 8-3, held the fifth seed in the Western Conference in Tuesday night's standings. No single player has absorbed those points: LaMelo Ball averages 18.3, Ayo Dosunmu 18.1 and Jaden McDaniels 17.0, and the Wolves are scoring 118.1 per game while allowing 107.0.

Dallas comes in with the louder recent numbers. The Mavericks beat Indiana 125-122 on Monday behind 43 points from Flagg and 35 from Irving — 78 of the team's 125 between them — for a third straight win. Thursday also opens a three-game trip that continues in Cleveland and Boston, and it is their first road game outside Texas since October 26, when they won in Miami. The history is against them: Minnesota has taken the last five meetings, two of those at Target Center.

  • Competition: NBA 2026-27 regular season.
  • Matchup: Dallas Mavericks at Minnesota Timberwolves (official NBA game ID 0022600229).
  • Tip-off: Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m. in Minneapolis (8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. PT); 01:00 UTC on Friday the 13th.
  • Venue: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
  • Series: first of the 2026-27 regular-season meetings.

The scoring Minnesota has spread around

Chris Finch's team has beaten Milwaukee 112-100, Houston 117-107 on the road, New Orleans 115-109 on the road and Utah 115-100. The scoring has rotated through the streak: against the Jazz, Dosunmu put up 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting and 8 of 8 at the line, Ball added 24 on 10-of-20, and Bones Hyland scored 14 in 13 minutes off the bench.

Ball runs the offense with 6.0 assists a night and has made 37 of 96 three-pointers. He also leads the team with 4.0 turnovers per game. McDaniels logs the most minutes on the roster at 33.9 and contributes 17.0 points and 6.2 rebounds. Jonathan Kuminga averages 12.3 and 5.4 boards, though he was held to four points on 2-of-5 shooting against Utah.

Rudy Gobert anchors the glass with 12.1 rebounds a game, including 15 against the Jazz, 13 of them defensive. Minnesota pulls down 48.8 rebounds per night, four more than Dallas. Gobert also carries a number that shows up late in close games: he has made 22 of 53 free throws.

Flagg's 39 minutes, and what Dallas brings

Dusty May's team had lost to Sacramento 100-115 and at San Antonio by a point, 111-112, before it steadied. The Mavericks beat Utah, blew out Brooklyn 130-93 and held off Indiana in a game that tightened despite a 43-27 rebounding edge: the Pacers handed out 35 assists and came within three.

Flagg played 39 minutes that night and finished with 43 points on 16-of-25 shooting, 3 of 6 from three and 8 of 8 at the line, plus 10 rebounds, six assists and five turnovers. He leads Dallas in points, rebounds and assists — 25.9, 6.9 and 6.9 in 34.2 minutes — and is shooting 90 percent from the line. Irving, who has played nine of 11 games, averages 22.9 points and hit 7 of 10 threes against Indiana.

The rest of the starting group supplies work rather than volume. P.J. Washington averages 14.6 points and 7.5 rebounds, and Daniel Gafford has made 42 of 59 field goals in 22.1 minutes, almost all of them near the rim. Dallas scores 114.9 and allows 110.3, and is 2-2 away from home.

Injury report

Neither team had filed a report for this game when the NBA updated its injury report at 10:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 10: that document covers the games of the 10th and 11th, and neither club plays on those nights. The league requires designations by 5 p.m. local time the day before, which falls on Wednesday the 11th in Minneapolis. The most recent official designations are the ones from each team's last game.

Minnesota Timberwolves (report for Sunday's game against Utah)

  • Anthony Edwards: out — right knee arthroscopy.
  • Donte DiVincenzo: out — right Achilles tendon repair / surgery.
  • Joan Beringer: available — nasal fracture, playing in a protective mask.

Dallas Mavericks (report for Monday's game against Indiana)

  • Dereck Lively II: out — right foot surgery.
  • Morez Johnson Jr.: out — left shin / tibia contusion.
  • Sergio de Larrea: out — right knee sprain.
  • Tarik Biberovic: out — right heel bursitis.
  • Caleb Martin: available — right thumb splint; he started against Indiana.

Those four absences leave May without his rotation center in Lively and without two young big men, which puts the work around the rim on Gafford and Washington, with Flagg as the fifth long defender. Minnesota is close to full strength apart from its two long-term absences.

Three things that will settle it

Minnesota's handle. The Wolves gave the ball away 22 times against Utah and conceded 25 points off those turnovers; they average 15.9 giveaways, with Ball responsible for the largest share. Dallas averages 8.7 steals and took nine from Indiana. If the Mavericks press the ball the same way, that is their fastest route to points without running an offense.

Flagg against Finch's longest wing. McDaniels plays more minutes than anyone on the Minnesota roster and is the team's rangiest perimeter defender, which makes him the natural assignment on Flagg. The Dallas forward is coming off a 39-minute night and is starting a stretch of three straight road games.

The glass and the free-throw line. Gobert and Joan Beringer combine for more than 18 rebounds a night, and Minnesota out-rebounds most of its opponents. Dallas grabbed 10 offensive boards against Indiana and shot 34 free throws; it would need both again to balance the margin. Gobert's accuracy from the line — under half — can swing a tight finish.

How to watch Mavericks–Timberwolves

  • Venue: Target Center, Minneapolis.
  • Date and time: Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m. Central in Minneapolis; 01:00 UTC on Friday the 13th.

United States — Thursday 12, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT

  • National TV: NBA TV, per the league's official listing for this game.
  • Streaming: the NBA says the game can be watched with NBA League Pass or with a pay-TV provider's credentials.
  • Local markets: KARE 11 and DAZN in Minnesota; KFAA and MavsTV+ in the Dallas area.
  • Radio: SiriusXM nationally; 830 WCCO in Minnesota and 105.3 The Fan in Dallas.

Australia — Friday 13, 12 p.m. AEDT in Sydney and Melbourne

  • TV: ESPN, which the league's official listing names as the Australian broadcaster for this game, with the same feed available through Disney+.
  • Other time zones: 11.30 a.m. ACDT in Adelaide, 11 a.m. AEST in Brisbane, 9 a.m. AWST in Perth.
  • Streaming: NBA League Pass.

United Kingdom — Friday 13, 1 a.m. GMT

  • TV: no broadcast announced. The Sky Sports basketball schedule lists only Toronto Raptors at Philadelphia 76ers for that night, on Sky Sports Mix.
  • Streaming: NBA League Pass.

Thursday will show whether the shared scoring that has carried Minnesota holds up against a team that can put 78 points on the board through two players — and whether Dallas can finally end a run of five straight losses in this matchup.