Hyland and Ball Shoot Timberwolves Past Mavericks in 133-94 Rout

The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Dallas Mavericks 133-94 at Target Center on Thursday night, their most lopsided win of the season. Bones Hyland led them with 24 points off the bench, LaMelo Ball added 22 points and a season-high nine assists, and Minnesota's fifth straight win moved it to 9-3.

The shooting decided it early and kept deciding it. Ball made six 3-pointers, five of them from 25 feet or deeper, and Hyland went 5-for-6 from three in 23 minutes. The pair combined to shoot 11-for-16 from long range, and Minnesota finished with 15 threes and 33 assists on 52 made field goals.

Hyland's night started with Dallas still in front. He checked in with 4:34 left in the first quarter and the Mavericks up 20-16, scored eight points in the final 3:50 of the quarter, and Minnesota closed it on an 18-6 run to lead 34-26. Hyland finished 7-for-10 from the field and 5-for-6 at the line, with eight assists and two steals, in a season where he'd been averaging 8.5 points a game.

Dallas made its one real push in the second quarter, cutting a 41-31 deficit to 43-42. Minnesota's answer ran through the end of the third: a 60-27 margin across that stretch, opened by a 10-1 run after halftime that pushed the lead to 77-53. The quarter scores tell the shape of it: 34-26, 33-26, 36-17, 30-25.

The inside game was as one-sided as the perimeter. Minnesota scored 74 points in the paint, 62 of them after the first quarter against Dallas's 28, and won second-chance scoring 25-12. This from the team that entered the night ranked first in the league in defensive rating at 106.1, playing without Anthony Edwards.

The defensive half of the rout is the part that travels. Dallas didn't reach 100 points for the first time this season, and Minnesota's pressure at the point of attack kept Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving from setting the Mavericks' offense. Minnesota also made all 10 of its second-chance field-goal attempts. A team can shoot its way into one blowout. Winning the paint 74 points' worth, the glass on second chances and the defensive rating table in the same week is a pattern, not a night.

Dallas got 22 points from Zaccharie Risacher and 13 points and four assists from Naji Marshall, and not much resistance anywhere else. The loss ended the Mavericks' three-game winning streak and dropped them to 7-5 in the first game of a three-game trip. Ayo Dosunmu added 18 points for Minnesota.

The road doesn't ease for Dallas: Cleveland on Saturday and Boston on Sunday. Minnesota's week bends the other way. The Timberwolves host Chicago on Saturday night at Target Center, riding a five-game streak built, on this evidence, as much on the league's best defense as on a bench guard and a point guard who spent Thursday night shooting from the logo.