Doncic magic but Mavs fall to Timberwolves

LOS ANGELES, United States - Luka Doncic scored 39 points but could not prevent the Dallas Mavericks falling to a 119-101 home defeat against the top of the table Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday (Friday, Manila time.)

Slovenian star Doncic extended his run of consecutive 30-point games to nine after shooting 15-of-27 from the field in an entertaining duel with Western Conference-leading Minnesota.

It was the 24-year-old's 78th game scoring 35 points or more, tying the mark of revered Dallas icon Dirk Nowitzki, the sixth-highest scorer in NBA history.

Nowitzki, who played 21 seasons for the Texas franchise, achieved his tally of 35-point games in 1,522 appearances; Doncic has matched that total in 352 games.

The Mavericks looked ready to upset the Wolves after taking a 15-point lead in the first quarter.

But Minnesota came back to cut the lead to one point at half-time and then outscored Dallas 60-41 in the second half to seal victory.

Naz Reid led the Minnesota scoring with 27 off the bench with Karl-Anthony Towns adding 21. Anthony Edwards was held to just nine points.

Dallas were left ruing an inability to make shots from three-point range. Doncic made just 2-of-7 from beyond the arc, Grant Williams 1-of-7 and Tim Hardaway Jr. 0-of-7.

- Nuggets rout Nets -
"It's just one of those nights," Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. "We got great looks, they just didn't go down for us tonight.

"So we can't be discouraged. There's a lot of positive things. Minnesota's the best team in the league and we felt we were playing well. Give them credit. But again, we had some great looks."

Minnesota's victory leaves them 2.5 games clear of second-placed Oklahoma at the top of the Western Conference with a 18-5 record.

The reigning champion Denver Nuggets kept up their pursuit of the Wolves with a 124-101 rout of the Brooklyn Nets to improve to 17-9.

Denver star Nikola Jokic, controversially ejected on Tuesday during the win over Chicago, returned in style with 26 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, the Serbian's 10th triple-double of the season.

Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic is the only player to achieve at least 10 triple doubles in seven consecutive seasons.

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