MAVERICKS (45-28) at MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (42-32)
Time: 7 p.m., Friday.
Place: Target Center, Minneapolis.
TV: Bally Sports Southwest.
Radio: The Eagle 97.1 FM; Univision Zona MX 99.1 FM (Spanish)
About the Mavericks: Is a Dallas-Utah first-round playoff series inevitable? Maybe not, but it sure looks like the most likely scenario as just over two weeks remain in the regular season. The teams are tied at 45-28, although Utah will own the tiebreaker (regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s Utah visit to American Airlines Center) because they will be a division champion. Golden State is three games ahead of the Mavs and Jazz. Denver is two games behind. So it’s going to take some major movement for the Mavericks and Jazz to see somebody else in the first round of the playoffs . . . The Mavericks swept their quick two-game stopover at AAC, beating the Wolves on Monday and Houston on Wednesday. They survived the Rockets despite Luka Dončić sitting out that game. He is not listed on the injury report ahead of Friday’s game . . . Davis Bertans (right knee soreness) and Trey Burke (illness) are listed as out . . . The Mavericks got 26 points from Spencer Dinwiddie and 28 from Jalen Brunson in their 110-91 victory over the Rockets. While the first half was forgettable, the Mavericks clamped down and held the Rockets down in the second half, outscoring them 58-38 . . . Dwight Powell continued his surge of late with 13 points and seven rebounds. He now has averaged 13.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in the last seven games (the Mavericks are 5-2). When he scores 10 or more points, the Mavs are 23-5 this season . . . After a nice shooting stretch for several games, the Mavericks have hit just 22-of-78 3-pointers (28.2 percent) in the last two games.
About the Timberwolves: They followed up their loss in Dallas on Monday with another 125-116 setback to Phoenix on Wednesday at Target Center. The Suns outscored the Wolves 42-28 in the fourth quarter . . . After this game, the Wolves have a rather strange four-game trip: Boston, Toronto, Denver, Houston. Three time zones and two countries in eight days is never a good way to get ready for the playoffs – or the play-in tournament, which the Wolves appear to be headed toward . . . They now are two games in the loss column behind sixth-place Denver. Seeds seven through 10 will have to win their way into the seventh or eighth playoff spots in the play-in tournament . . . Before their two recent losses, the Wolves had won 11 of 13 games coming out of the All-Star break, which made them the hottest team in the league before this week’s hiccups . . . In the loss to Phoenix, all-star center Karl-Anthony Towns battled foul troubles as Phoenix’s Deandre Ayton went off for 35 points and 14 rebounds. The Suns had 30 assists and shot 53.2 percent from the field in their win . . . Expect Towns to come back with a vengeance. He was held largely in check in Dallas on Monday and he had just 15 points and 11 rebounds against the Suns. Those kind of games are few and far between for Towns, who averages 24.7 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.
Twitter: @ESefko
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