{"id":567840,"date":"2026-01-29T05:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T05:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/567840\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T05:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T05:12:18","slug":"short-handed-mavericks-fall-to-timberwolves-but-naji-marshall-keeps-providing-consistency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/567840\/","title":{"rendered":"Short-handed Mavericks fall to Timberwolves, but Naji Marshall keeps providing consistency"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Mavericks<\/a> have played with inconsistent lineups all season because of injury or illness, but Naji Marshall has provided consistency in what\u2019s turning into the best season of his career.<\/p>\n

Over the last 11 games as a starter, the Mavericks forward has been a stable force on offense with an average of nearly 20 points per game.<\/p>\n

Marshall led the Mavericks once again in Wednesday\u2019s 118-105 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the short-handed home team didn\u2019t have enough firepower to contain Plano native Julius Randle in his homecoming game at American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n

Dallas was on the front end of a celebratory back-to-back so Cooper Flagg and Klay Thompson were unavailable in Wednesday\u2019s game<\/a>, leading to a by-committee approach on offense by the Mavericks.<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/p>\n

Be the smartest Mavericks fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Marshall scored 18 points with six rebounds, but was bested by Randle\u2019s game-high 31 points with five rebounds and four assists. Before the game, Wolves coach Chris Finch said he\u2019s always been a fan of Marshall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love playmaking wings,\u201d Finch said. \u201cI think guys who are super hard to guard are so valuable in the league right now. Feels like he\u2019s comfortable getting to his spots as well. In situations where he\u2019s been forced to probably score a bit more, he\u2019s been able to measure up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third quarter was a shining example of how valuable Marshall has been for the Mavericks through their injury woes. Functioning as the point guard in Jason Kidd\u2019s non-traditional starting five, Marshall used his handle to penetrate into the paint often. From there, he created enough separation to launch his signature floater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the league right now, people put their head down and get to the paint, put your defense under pressure,\u201d Finch said. \u201cYou got to be able to kind of stand him up at the point of attack, guys that can playmake right now increases the value of everyone\u2019s 3-point shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

In theory, Marshall\u2019s ability to get into the paint should\u2019ve helped space the floor, but the Mavericks struggled from beyond the arc with only three triples on just 18 attempts. None of the starters managed to connect from 3-point range, including Marshall who didn\u2019t attempt one for the first time since New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

Marshall was frustrated once the Mavericks went down by 15 with 6 minutes and 48 seconds left. He launched a towel toward the team tunnel, which summed up another rough night on offense without a true point guard.<\/p>\n

Flagg missed Wednesday\u2019s game because of left ankle injury management, while Klay Thompson rested with left knee soreness. P.J. Washington scored 12 of his team-high 21 points in the fourth quarter. The seventh-year forward retuned to the starting lineup for the first time since Jan. 14 and talked about Marshall\u2019s impact over the last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being a beast that he is,\u201d Washington said. \u201cKilling mismatches, what he does best. I\u2019m very proud of him. I love playing with him. I know out there me and him are two brothers out there, we\u2019re going to fight for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a strong argument to be made that there wouldn\u2019t be a game between the Mavericks and Timberwolves on Wednesday if it wasn\u2019t for the man of the hour, Norm Sonju, co-founder of the Mavericks.<\/p>\n

Sonju received his flowers during a special ceremony during halftime<\/a>. At Wednesday\u2019s shootaround, Dwight Powell discussed the importance of the man responsible for laying the foundation for the franchise in 1980, along with Mark Aguirre, who will have his No. 24 jersey retired on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d Powell said. \u201cI think the foundation of this organization is very strong and we\u2019re honored to put on this jersey and to be of the cloth and lineage of those guys. It\u2019s been some time since (Aguirre\u2019s) played, but I think it\u2019s great that we\u2019re honoring them now and I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The celebration will continue during Thursday\u2019s game against the Charlotte Hornets, when Aguirre\u2019s jersey is raised to the rafters of American Airlines Center. It\u2019s the fifth jersey to be retired by the franchise, a moment decades in the making.<\/p>\n

Flagg could be back in the lineup, especially since it\u2019ll mark his first regular season game against his college roommate, Kon Knueppel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Norm Night! See photos from Mavericks-Timberwolves, including the ceremony honoring franchise co-founder Norm Sonju<\/p>\n

\"DallasView GalleryMavericks\u2019 franchise father figure Norm Sonju finally receives \u2018well-overdue\u2019 recognition<\/a>Cooper Flagg, Klay Thompson out for Mavs\u2019 game vs. Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards available<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks have played with inconsistent lineups all season because of injury or illness, but Naji Marshall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[7,225,149,3716,498,166,307,152,3954,6,66,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-567840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cooper-flagg","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-jason-kidd","12":"tag-klay-thompson","13":"tag-mavericks","14":"tag-minnesota","15":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","16":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-timberwolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115976677746199179","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567840","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=567840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}