Mavs post 11th straight 50-win season (AP)

DALLAS (AP)—Dirk Nowitzki(notes) had 30 points and 11 rebounds, Jason Terry(notes) added
18 points and the Mavericks rallied in the fourth quarter for a 104-96 victory
over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, giving Dallas 50 wins for the
11th straight season.

Shawn Marion(notes) added 17 points and Peja Stojakovic(notes) had 16 to help the
Mavericks win for the third time in four games.

Anthony Randolph(notes) had a career-high 31 points with 11 rebounds for the
Timberwolves, who’ve lost their last five games and are without injured All-Star
forward Kevin Love(notes).

Randolph made his first start of the season in place of Love. Randolph,
acquired from the Knicks in a three-team trade on Feb. 22, had a 23-point first
half, 17 in the second quarter.

Dallas was in front by as many as eight in the third quarter, but the
Timberwolves came back to grab a 95-93 lead with 3:17 to play on Wayne
Ellington’s(notes) 22-footer.

Tyson Chandler’s(notes) three-point play with 2:38 left put Dallas back in front,
96-95.

Jonny Flynn(notes) hit a layup with 1:17 remaining to pull Minnesota to 98-96, but
Terry’s 3-pointer with 55.6 seconds left gave Dallas some breathing room at
101-96.

Marion stole Flynn’s pass, and Nowitzki hit two free throws with 43.5
seconds to play for a 103-96 advantage to ice the victory.

The Mavs went on an 11-3 spurt in the third quarter fueled by Nowitzki’s
eight straight points, expanding a two-point halftime lead to 62-54.

Dallas was in front 76-72 entering the final quarter.

Minnesota led after one, 23-17, with Dallas going 1 for 11 from 3-point
range in the opening period.

Stojakovic came off the bench to score seven points during a 13-4
second-quarter run, and the Mavs held a slender 49-47 edge at the break.

Before the game, Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis said there’s a chance Love
could miss the rest of the season with a strained left groin.

“There is an outside chance, I don’t know how great that chance is,”
Rambis said. “Obviously, with hamstring or groin injuries, you want to be
cautious with them because they can linger for a long period of time, and we
don’t want that to happen with Kevin.”

Love, averaging 20.3 points and an NBA-best 15.4 rebounds per game, didn’t
travel with the team after sustaining the injury in Minnesota’s previous game, a
127-95 home loss to Sacramento on Sunday.

Notes: Randolph’s previous career high was 28 points against Orlando on Dec.
5, 2009. … Marion started after missing the previous game with a sprained
right wrist. … The Mavericks have won 21 of the last 23 meetings with the
Timberwolves. … Minnesota is 5-31 on the road.