Minnesota Timberwolves at Dallas Mavericks
Date: January 28th, 2026
Time: 7:30 PM CST
Location: American Airlines Center
Television Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: KFAN FM, Wolves App, iHeart Radio<\/p>\n
The Wolves finally stopped the bleeding Monday night, snapping the five-game losing streak by beating the Warriors\u2019 B squad at Target Center. And yes, we all understand the fine print on the receipt: no Steph Curry, no Jimmy Butler, and Golden State looked like a team that was mostly trying to survive the evening without someone pulling a hamstring tying their shoes.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the thing: when you\u2019re 0\u20135 in your last five and you\u2019ve spent the last week playing basketball like you\u2019re distractedly scrolling Twitter at half court, any win counts. Not \u201ccounts\u201d like it moves you up the standings in some dramatic way. \u201cCounts\u201d like a drowning person grabbing a life preserver.<\/p>\n
Minnesota did it without Anthony Edwards again, who continues to have issues with his foot. They had four of five starters available, they brought competent energy, and they handled business the way a serious team is supposed to handle a compromised opponent: build separation, keep it, don\u2019t get cute.<\/p>\n
Now comes the next test, and it\u2019s the kind of test that tells you whether the Wolves are actually pulling themselves together or just enjoyed one nice evening before returning to their regularly scheduled chaos.<\/p>\n
They head back to Texas, scene of the recent crime spree (Houston and San Antonio), except this time the opponent isn\u2019t a contender with Kevin Durant or Victor Wembanyama. It\u2019s Dallas, who is struggling, banged up, and missing major pieces. No Kyrie Irving. No Anthony Davis. And maybe no Cooper Flagg, who\u2019s listed as a game-time decision. This is less \u201cclimbing Everest\u201d and more \u201csuccessfully walking up a flight of stairs without tripping,\u201d which\u2026 considering the last two weeks\u2026 still qualifies as progress.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s the point. Sometimes you don\u2019t fix a shaky season with one grand moment. Sometimes you do it with baby steps: beat the depleted Warriors, beat the depleted Mavericks, and then you look up and suddenly you\u2019ve got some stability heading into Thursday\u2019s OKC game instead of an emotional crater.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s treat this correctly. Dallas isn\u2019t the type of team you circle as a signature win. Dallas is the type of game you circle as mandatory.<\/p>\n
1. Weaponize the size advantage
Dallas is limping into this one, and without Anthony Davis in particular, there\u2019s no excuse for Minnesota not to own the paint. This is where the Wolves\u2019 identity is supposed to live: Rudy Gobert anchoring the back line, and Julius Randle and Naz Reid crashing to the rim. They did a solid job exploiting the Warriors\u2019 lack of size. Now they need to turn that into a habit, not a one-night stand. If Minnesota wins the paint and the boards, Dallas runs out of ways to stay in the game.<\/p>\n
2. Play like the game matters for 48 minutes \u2014 because it does.
This is the danger zone game. The Wolves finally get a win, the schedule looks friendly, and the brain starts whispering, We can coast a little. That\u2019s how you lose to injured teams, turn a possible two-game win streak into another spiral, and end up doing the \u201chow did we end up in the play-in?\u201d math in March. Minnesota has already proven they can flip intensity on and off like a light switch. The problem is they\u2019ve been using it like a broken one. This has to be a professional effort from the opening tip. Sprint back. Hit the glass. Make the extra rotation. Don\u2019t wait until the fourth quarter to start caring. You don\u2019t build momentum by winning one game. You build it by stacking another one right after it, especially on the road.<\/p>\n
3. Guard the perimeter.
Even depleted teams can beat you if you let them get comfortable from three and turn the game into a math problem. Minnesota has been at its worst when the wing defense becomes optional. When guys get blown by, Rudy gets dragged into impossible help situations, and suddenly every possession is either a layup or a scramble into an open corner three. Dallas doesn\u2019t need to be healthy to make you pay if you\u2019re lazy. The Wolves have to close out like they mean it, contain dribble penetration, and keep the ball in front. The goal should be simple: make Dallas work for every shot, and make their offense feel heavy. If Minnesota keeps Dallas in the mud for three quarters, this game ends early.<\/p>\n
4. Take care of the ball and keep the offense flowing.
We just watched the Wolves cough it up 25 times against Golden State on Sunday. That wasn\u2019t a \u201cbad luck\u201d thing. That was a carelessness thing. Monday only looked better because it couldn\u2019t possibly be worse, with Minnesota giving the ball away 22 times. This game cannot become another \u201cwe gave them life\u201d situation where Dallas hangs around because Minnesota is throwing away possessions like expired coupons. The Wolves need clean decision-making, purposeful ball movement, and a steady pace. No dribbling the air out of it. No lazy cross-court passes. No possessions that end with someone launching a bailout three because the offense died at the top of the key. Especially if Ant is out again, the Wolves have to score through structure with movement, paint touches, kickouts, and extra passes.<\/p>\n
5. Leadership can\u2019t be a postgame quote \u2014 it has to show up in the first quarter.
This is the big one, especially if Edwards remains sidelined. When a team is wobbling, and make no mistake, Minnesota is wobbling, leadership isn\u2019t something you talk about. It\u2019s something you demonstrate. Rudy has to set the defensive tone. Conley has to organize the chaos and keep everyone connected. Randle has to play forceful but smart bully-ball with reads, not tunnel vision. And the \u201cmiddle class\u201d guys (DDV, Naz, Jaden) have to bring real edge, not passive cardio. Monday was a step toward stopping the bleeding. Wednesday has to be the game where they show they can walk normally again.<\/p>\n
This is where the Wolves are right now: not in the \u201cmake a statement\u201d phase, but in the \u201cprove you\u2019re not broken\u201d phase. Dallas is injured. Dallas is struggling. Dallas is vulnerable. If Minnesota plays with maturity, this is a workmanlike road win, the kind you bank, the kind you don\u2019t brag about, the kind that quietly steadies your season.<\/p>\n
But if they come out sloppy, unfocused, and casual, if they treat this like a night off because the opponent is shorthanded, then we\u2019re right back in the swamp. And the OKC game won\u2019t be a measuring stick. It\u2019ll be a scheduled disaster.<\/p>\n
So yeah: baby steps. Beat the depleted Warriors. Beat the depleted Mavericks. Get your footing back. Then turn your attention to OKC with something resembling confidence.<\/p>\n
Because the Wolves dug this hole themselves. And the only way out is to start stacking wins that aren\u2019t glamorous, just necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minnesota Timberwolves at Dallas MavericksDate: January 28th, 2026Time: 7:30 PM CSTLocation: American Airlines CenterTelevision Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,6,64153],"class_list":{"0":"post-567473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallasmavericks","12":"tag-mavericks","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-timberwolves-game-discussion"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115975803941253030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}