Mavs Step Back: No Cause for Concern After Luka Doncic, Dallas Run Out of Gas vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

Despite Luka Doncic scoring 39 points, the Dallas Mavericks were blown out by the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, but given the circumstances, this one could be chalked up as being a 'scheduled loss' with no long-term concerns.

Sometimes, a blowout loss can leave a team feeling down, but that shouldn't be the case after the Dallas Mavericks lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, 119-101.

Not only are the Wolves the top team in the Western Conference with the league's No. 1 defense – because that alone would've made it a tough task for Dallas – but the Mavs were also playing their third game in four nights without star point guard Kyrie Irving after having two single-digit wins earlier this week. Shorthanded teams with tired legs can only keep the fire burning for so long until the schedule catches up with them, and that appears to be what happened to the Mavs last night.

On the latest episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we recap and talk about the biggest takeaways from Dallas' loss to Minnesota, including Luka Doncic's 39-point performance not being enough to will his team to victory, the team jumping out to a promising 19-4 lead in the first quarter, the severe shooting woes of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Grant Williams, who combined to go 1-14 from beyond the arc, the impact of Wolves reserve center Naz Reid, and much, much more.

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We also take a look ahead to Saturday's game, where the Mavs will take on the Trail Blazers in Portland for the second time in a little over one week. Even if there are no injury updates on Irving or Josh Green, the Mavs should still be able to bounce back into the win column against a rebuilding Blazers squad. Don't expect Dallas, which has the fourth-best offense in the league, to shoot as poorly as 21.9 percent from deep in two consecutive games.

"One, you've got to know who you are – and this is who we are," Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said when asked about his team continuing to shoot 3s even when they weren't falling.

"We can create a lot of 3s. We've got guys who are very dynamic in the sense of being able to get into advantage basketball. There's going to be nights where they don't fall, but if we can continue to be consistent with being able to create those shots, then if you look at the analytics, the percentages will tell you you'll probably win more than you'll lose.

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"There's going to be nights where it just doesn't drop but you've got to continue to keep playing. I thought our defense gave us an opportunity there. Give them credit – their bench was better than ours tonight. We'll go back and look at this and see how we can get better and grow."

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