Luka Doncic: Wolves' Naz Reid is an 'amazing player'
Naz Reid.
Does anything else really need to be said about the Minnesota Timberwolves' 119-101 road victory against the Dallas Mavericks Thursday night?
Reid scored 27 points and tied a franchise record with seven 3-pointers off the bench. He picked up the slack on a night when Anthony Edwards shot 3 of 19 and Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels dealt with foul trouble.
"They're good in both ways, offense, defense. They have an amazing team. Ant is one of the best in the league for sure. But I think there is one X factor: Naz Reid," Dallas superstar Luka Doncic said after the game. "He's an amazing player, man, and he hurt us today. He's been hooping."
Hear from Luka Doncic following the 119-101 loss to the Timberwolves. #MFFL | @dallasmavs on @BallySportsSW 📺 pic.twitter.com/Ja70xfWtFP
— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) December 15, 2023
"Honestly, the great thing about Naz's game is it all came in the flow. We didn't call a single play for him. He just spaced the floor well, was patient, guys started finding him," Wolves coach Chris Finch said. "That's the thing I love about him. We almost never call a play for him."
Dallas jumped Minnesota by opening up a 17-2 lead in the first three minutes, 14 seconds. By the end of the third quarter the Wolves led 87-82, disguising a butt-kicking as a close game. By the time it was over, Minnesota outscored Dallas 117-84 in the final 44 minutes, 44 seconds.
"It's just one of those nights. When you look at the guys that got looks, they didn't go down for us tonight. Again, Minnesota is the best team in the league and we felt we were playing well," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. "Give them credit."
"It's just one of those night. When you look at the guys that got looks, they didn't go down for us tonight. Again, Minnesota is the best team in the league and we felt we were playing well."
— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) December 15, 2023
Jason Kidd reacts to tonight's game. #MFFL | @dallasmavs on @BallySportsSW 📺 pic.twitter.com/nmAZZ6OkPu
Minnesota (18-5) is tied with Boston for the best record in the NBA and leads the Western Conference by 2.5 games over second place Denver (17-9).
Up next: Timberwolves vs. Pacers, Saturday at 7 p.m. CT.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.