T-Wolves Present Playoffs 'Nightmare Matchup' for Mavs?
The Dallas Mavericks are one game above .500 at 34-33 in a tight NBA Western Conference race to the finish, and they may need to avoid the Minnesota Timberwolves once the 2023 NBA postseason commences if they hope to make a long run like last season.
Bleacher Report delved into the nightmare matchup for all 30 teams in the league, and they see a tumultuous end for the Mavericks in the event they run into the Anthony Edwards-led ball club, saying:
Dallas has already dropped their first meeting (to the Timberwolves) in the Kyrie Irving era, a 124-121 loss on February 13. It's a bad sign for the Mavs that Irving and Luka Doncic combined for 69 total points and still couldn't secure a W.
Rudy Gobert (21 points on 9-of-9 shooting and 14 rebounds) offers enough rim deterrence to force Irving and Doncic to make jumpers, while neither has the defensive chops to slow down Anthony Edwards (32 points in the recent win).
The current eighth-seeded Mavericks bear the same record as the seventh-seeded Timberwolves and could face them in the first game of the play-in tournament. However, three games separate the No. 5 seed from the No. 13 seed in the West, and the standings have seen notable fluctuations week-over-week post-All-Star break. Dallas owns a 1-2 record against Minnesota.
Assuming Karl-Anthony Towns is back from a calf strain in time for the playoffs, Minnesota could be an extremely dangerous team, especially for Dallas.
The Mavericks are the worst rebounding team in the NBA, securing 38.5 boards per contest. They are the only team failing to grab 40 or more rebounds per game. Albeit, the Wolves actually concede more rebounds to opponents (44.7 RPG) than the Mavericks (43.9), despite being No. 24 with 41.4 rebounds per night -- a number that figures to rise upon the return of star forward Karl-Anthony Towns.
While the Mavericks start one player over 6-9 -- center Dwight Powell -- coach Jason Kidd has the depth to make rotational adjustments to counter the Wolves.
Christian Wood shoots 36.9 percent from three-point range, as well as 65.6 percent from the field as the pick-and-roll man as a reserve. Kidd has the liberty to start Wood alongside Powell to offset the size and foot speed of a Towns-Gobert frontline, without compromising shooting or defense. And if Maxi Kleber is healthy, pairing him with Wood makes even more sense.
Absent from the stat sheet, the Mavericks possess the ability to go nuclear from beyond the arc as a unit. Additionally, the invaluable late-game capabilities of both Irving and Doncic go without saying, as both have connected on shots to win games, as well as series' in the playoffs.
Last time the Timberwolves were seen in postseason action, they conceded a 26-point lead in Game 4, as well as a 13-point lead in Game 5 of their 2022 first round series against the Memphis Grizzlies, while coach Chris Finch failed to call timeouts during costly runs.
Spacing and camaraderie were well-reported issues that plagued Minnesota early in the season, and they will have to prove that they can gel while fully healthy down the stretch of the season to give Dallas a run for their money.
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