Daniel Gafford scored 21 points and passed 4,000 career points, but the Dallas Mavericks fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-94 Monday night, extending their home losing streak to 13 games.
DALLAS — Anthony Edwards was listed as a starter Monday night, but showed up late and had to come off the bench. It didn't matter. Neither did much of anything the Dallas Mavericks tried.
Julius Randle scored 24 points, Edwards returned from a six-game absence to add 17, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat Dallas 124-94 at American Airlines Center to push the Mavericks' home losing streak to 13 consecutive games.
Ayo Dosunmu was the story of the night. The trade deadline acquisition from Chicago finished with 18 points, a career-high 15 rebounds and 12 assists — his second career triple-double. Rudy Gobert added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Donte DiVincenzo knocked down five of nine from three-point range and scored 15.
Minnesota (46-29) moved into sole possession of fifth place in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of idle Houston.
Edwards was replaced in the starting lineup by Mike Conley after arriving late to the court. He checked in 2:01 into the first quarter needing to appear in every remaining Timberwolves game to meet the NBA's 65-game minimum for all-NBA eligibility. He shot 7-of-13 (53.8%) in 22 minutes.
Dallas never had a chance to settle in. A 19-2 Minnesota run late in the first quarter pushed the lead to 23-10, and the Wolves were ahead by as many as 33 in the fourth.
Daniel Gafford did what he could. He scored 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting (81.8%) and grabbed eight rebounds, reaching 4,000 career points on a dunk with 8:48 left in the fourth. It was his fourth 20-point game in his last five and fifth in his last seven after totaling just one such performance in his first 45 appearances this season. He is averaging 18.4 points and 10.1 rebounds over that stretch. The 21-point, 81.8% shooting line was the 17th time in his career he has reached at least 20 points on 80.0% shooting, tying Deandre Ayton and Jakob Poeltl for sixth-most such games since Gafford entered the league in 2019-20.
Cooper Flagg scored 12 points but shot 5-of-19 (26.3%), starting one for 10 before finding any rhythm. Brandon Williams put up 15 points, six rebounds and seven assists — a stat line he had never produced before in his career and his fifth career 15-5-5 game.
The strangest line of the night belonged to Dwight Powell: nine points, zero field goal attempts. Powell went 9-of-10 at the free throw line, setting an NBA record for most points in the shot clock era — dating to 1954-55 — without attempting a field goal. The old record was eight points, accomplished four times, most recently by Boban Marjanovic. Powell tacked on eight rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Tyler Smith's eight rebounds were a career high. Dallas actually outrebounded Minnesota 53-51 and held a 14-6 edge on the offensive glass, but 15 turnovers that led to 20 Minnesota points did the Mavericks in on a night they shot 34.8% from the field (31-of-89) and 24.1% from three (7-of-29). The Timberwolves shot 53.1% (51-of-96) and went 14-of-31 (45.2%) from deep.
The 13-game home slide is the longest in the 25-year history of American Airlines Center. Dallas has not lost this many consecutive home games since dropping the first 19 of the 1993-94 season at the since-demolished Reunion Arena.
Randle also grabbed three rebounds to reach 7,000 for his career. Six Minnesota players scored in double figures.
The Mavericks will end a back-to-back on the road when they face the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night at Fiserv Forum.