Timberwolves enter critical stretch with pesky Mavericks up first

The Minnesota Timberwolves will tip off a critical stretch playing six of seven on the road, beginning on Monday against the Dallas Mavericks.

Minnesota (45-29) embarks on the first of two three-game road swings over its final eight games of the regular season looking to secure its Western Conference playoff positioning.

The Timberwolves ended Saturday's slate a half-game ahead of Houston for fifth place in the West -- with the Rockets visiting New Orleans on Sunday night -- and 1 1/2 games behind Denver for fourth place and home-court advantage in the first round. The Nuggets host Golden State on Sunday night.

Minnesota's postseason prospects are as bright as the No. 3 seed, with the Los Angeles Lakers an attainable three games up on the Timberwolves. But Minnesota could also realistically slide into seventh and the play-in round, as it holds a four-game lead over Phoenix.

The Timberwolves dropped an opportunity at home on Saturday, losing to Eastern Conference-leading Detroit, 109-87. The 87 points were Minnesota's second-fewest in a game this season, as All-Star Anthony Edwards remained on the sidelines with a knee injury.

While the Timberwolves were 4-1 during this stretch without the 29.5-point per game scorer ahead of Saturday's contest, the loss was compounded with both Ayo Dosunmu and Jaden McDaniels also out.

"All the guys who played, we felt like we had good looks," veteran guard Mike Conley said. "We expect to make them. We just can't all have nights when we're all not putting it in the basket, especially when we're down the guys (who) we were down."

Dosunmu missed the last two games with a calf injury that has him listed as day-to-day, and McDaniels is also day-to-day with a knee injury. Sunday's injury report ruled McDaniels out for the contest, while Edwards and Dosunmu were deemed questionable.

The Timberwolves must prepare for a Dallas team that has posed a threat to playoff contenders in recent weeks.

The Mavericks (24-50) are out of the postseason picture nearing the conclusion of an injury-plagued campaign, but they come into Monday's matchup having scored 131-plus points against a trio of playoff teams: the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets.

Dallas went 0-3 in that spell, but took both Los Angeles and Golden State to overtime. All three losses were by seven points or fewer.

The Mavericks broke through for a win on Friday, their defense holding Portland to a season-best 93 points in a seven-point win. Cooper Flagg complemented his team-leading 24 points with four steals to contribute to the defensive effort, while Naji Marshall swiped five steals to go with 19 points.

Flagg continues to state a case for Rookie of the Year, competing with his former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel of the Charlotte Hornets. He leads Dallas in scoring at 20.4 points to go with 6.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.

"He's our leader," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said of Flagg. "For him to set the tone by scoring 20 (in the first half), and then let others do it in the second, it just shows great leadership and poise ... Being able to do it on both ends is big for a rookie."

--Field Level Media