Timberwolves vs Mavericks LIVE, Score Updates and Play-by-Play in NBA

Remarkable statistical quirk across Minnesota's four-game win streak: the Timberwolves scored 112 vs Milwaukee, 117 at Houston, 115 at New Orleans, and 115 vs Utah.

Zero wild variance-just four straight nights between 112 and 117 points paired with suffocating fourth-quarter defense.

Tip-off between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. CT (5:00 p.m. PT / 01:00 GMT).

National US television coverage airs live coast-to-coast on NBA TV, accompanied by regional broadcasts on KFAA-TV and MavsTV across Dallas-Fort Worth plus FanDuel Sports Network North across Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. Stay right here with VAVEL for confirmed starting lineups half an hour before tip, quarter-by-quarter score updates, rebounding and three-point splits, and live Cooper Flagg & LaMelo Ball box score lines.

Dallas vs Minnesota still carries unmistakable Western Conference Finals bite every single time the Mavericks walk through the Target Center tunnel.

Both depth charts look dramatically reshaped in November 2026-Cooper Flagg running the show in Dallas at 25.9 points and 6.9 assists per night, LaMelo Ball orchestrating high screen-and-roll actions in Minnesota alongside Rudy Gobert-yet the underlying geometric puzzle between Dallas's jumbo perimeter creators and Minnesota's towering interior length remains one of pro basketball's richest tactical battles on national television.

Even with Anthony Edwards sidelined by his knee injury, oddsmakers list the 8-3 Minnesota Timberwolves as 5.5-point home favorites (-5.5) at Target Center, with the game total posted at 225.5 points.

Minnesota's 4-1 home mark and suffocating half-court rim protection explain that 5.5-point cushion, as the Wolves have held four straight opponents between 100 and 109 points (100 vs Milwaukee, 107 at Houston, 109 at New Orleans, 100 vs Utah). Meanwhile, Dallas enters 2-2 on the road and brings an offense that just hung 130 on Brooklyn and 125 on Indiana back-to-back, setting up a classic clash between Dallas's 125-point shot-making surge and Minnesota's sub-105 paint wall.

Schedule rest tilts noticeably toward the home locker room in Minneapolis: Minnesota has stayed in its own beds since beating Utah 115-100 at Target Center on Monday night (two full recovery days), whereas Dallas just went wire-to-wire in a 125-122 track meet against Indiana in Texas 48 hours ago before flying north into freezing Twin Cities air.

With Anthony Edwards (knee) and Donte DiVincenzo (Achilles) unavailable on the perimeter, LaMelo Ball (18.3 points, 6.0 assists per night) controls Minnesota's offensive thermometer. Whenever Gobert corrals a missed jumper, Ball's one-handed hit-ahead outlet darts punish cross-matched transition defenses, turning defensive stops into early-clock wing triples in under five seconds.

Dereck Lively II's foot injury strips Dallas of its primary vertical lob threat and 7-foot-1 interior anchor against four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.

Without Lively patrolling the restricted area alongside Tarik Biberovic (out, heel) and Sergio de Larrea (out, knee), P.J. Washington (7.5 rebounds per game) and Cooper Flagg shoulder heavy defensive glass assignments against Gobert, who dominates the paint at 12.1 rebounds per contest. Offensively, Dallas counters Gobert's deep drop coverage by pulling its five-man above the free-throw nail in five-out spacing, giving Flagg (25.9 PPG, 6.9 APG) a clean runway to attack downhill with a live dribble or hit short-roll pocket passes before Gobert can recover to the shooter.

Both clubs wake up Thursday inside brutal divisional dogfights:

Northwest Division: Portland Trail Blazers (.727, 3 losses), Minnesota Timberwolves (8-3, .727), Oklahoma City Thunder (.667, 0.5 GB), Denver Nuggets (.600, 1.5 GB), Utah Jazz (.083).

Southwest Division: San Antonio Spurs (red-hot 10-game win streak, .833), Houston Rockets (.750, 1.0 GB), Dallas Mavericks (7-4, .636, 2.5 GB), Memphis Grizzlies (.636, 2.5 GB), New Orleans Pelicans (.333).

Notice that Dallas came within one possession of snapping San Antonio's streak on Nov. 5, falling 112-111 on the road before rattling off three straight home wins.

Since dropping a 121-111 road game at San Antonio on Nov. 1, Minnesota has not lost.

Look at the defensive consistency across those four consecutive victories: 112-100 vs Milwaukee on Nov. 3, 117-107 at Houston on Nov. 5, 115-109 at New Orleans on Nov. 7, and 115-100 at home over Utah on Monday night (Nov. 9). Not a single opponent reached 110 points during that eight-day run, anchored by Gobert erasing paint attempts and cleaning 12.1 boards a night. Even more impressive, two of those four wins came on tough Southwest road floors in Houston and New Orleans without full perimeter health, proving Minnesota's half-court shell travels anywhere in the Western Conference when opponents settle for contested midrange pull-ups over Gobert's outstretched 7-foot-9 wingspan.

Minnesota's four-game winning streak has come while navigating two major backcourt absences on the injury report.

Franchise guard Anthony Edwards is ruled out tonight with a knee injury, and guard Donte DiVincenzo remains sidelined with an Achilles injury. In Edwards's absence, point guard LaMelo Ball leads active NBA scorers and playmakers on Minnesota's roster at 18.3 points and 6.0 assists per game, pairing lob chemistry and deep pull-up range with four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert (12.1 rebounds per game).

Dallas also misses starting rim protector Dereck Lively II (out, foot), along with Tarik Biberovic (out, heel) and Sergio de Larrea (out, knee), while Morez Johnson Jr. is listed day-to-day (lower leg).

Take one glance at Dallas's statistical leaderboard through 11 games in 2026-27 and you see why national television cameras follow the Mavericks everywhere.

Forward Cooper Flagg leads Dallas in both scoring (25.9 points per game) and playmaking (6.9 assists per contest), functioning as a 6-foot-9 point forward who initiates high pick-and-rolls, punishes switches in the mid-post, and sprays corner threes whenever weakside help tags the roller. Alongside forward P.J. Washington (team-best 7.5 rebounds per night), Dallas has averaged 122.3 points across its current three-game tear: beating Utah 112-100 on Nov. 7, blowing out Brooklyn 130-93 on Nov. 9, and edging Indiana 125-122 on Tuesday night.

Even back on Nov. 5 in San Antonio, Flagg kept Dallas toe-to-toe with the West-leading Spurs before a 112-111 final buzzer, giving the Mavericks offensive poise well beyond his years.

Good evening from downtown Minneapolis and welcome to VAVEL's live courtside coverage of Dallas Mavericks at Minnesota Timberwolves on NBA TV. Tip-off inside Target Center is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. local Central Time) between two Western Conference playoff contenders riding multi-game winning streaks.

Seven straight combined victories walk onto this floor tonight.

The Minnesota Timberwolves sit at 8-3 overall (4-1 at Target Center, tied with Portland atop the Northwest Division at .727) after reeling off four wins in a row. Across half court, Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks arrive at 7-4 (third in a loaded Southwest Division) fresh off three consecutive wins over Utah, Brooklyn, and Indiana.