Minnesota Timberwolves – Dallas Mavericks · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 20 October 2018

MIN136–140DAL

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 95% of NBA games since 2017

· The win probability swung between the two teams 32 times
· It stayed close for almost the whole game

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ DAL winsMIN wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when DAL leads and falls when MIN does.

This is how the game was decided.

Luka Dončić decided it, the Dallas Mavericks player with the most points (26, with 6 rebounds and 3 assists; +4 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Dorian Finney-Smith's (+10). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Dallas Mavericks 140-136 Minnesota Timberwolves (October 20, 2018) was hit by Dennis Smith Jr.: a jump shot with 6.4 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Dallas Mavericks up 136-134. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Dallas Mavericks 140-136 Minnesota Timberwolves (October 20, 2018) was a 11-0 run by the Dallas Mavericks in the second quarter (from 7:44 to 5:42), from 42-54 to 53-54. The Minnesota Timberwolves' best was a 11-0 run between the third quarter and the fourth quarter, from 91-97 to 102-97.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Dennis Smith Jr. makes 20-foot step back jumpshot.

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Dennis Smith Jr. decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 6.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is the only game he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Smith decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

20 October 2018 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401070715:716; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2018-19 regular season, not this game.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Karl-Anthony Towns contested 14.7 shots per game over his 77 games.
He ranks 4 of 380 in the league.
Anthony Tolliver drew 0.24 charges per game over his 59 games.
He ranks 14 of 380 in the league.
Jeff Teague drew 0.21 charges per game over his 42 games.
He ranks 18 of 380 in the league.

Dallas Mavericks

Luka Dončić recovered 1.4 loose balls per game over his 72 games.
He ranks 27 of 380 in the league.
Jalen Brunson drew 0.17 charges per game over his 70 games.
He ranks 29 of 380 in the league.
Maxi Kleber defended 4.5 shots at the rim per game over his 71 games, and opponents made 9 fewer out of every 100 than usual.
He ranks 12 of 129 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Dallas Mavericks have won 85 of their 151 games against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

85-66record of the Dallas Mavericks · NBA 1989-90 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

0-4in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1989-90 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

20.205

105.2% of capacity

American Airlines Center · Dallas

Scoring

276

combined points

53.6 above the season average (222.4)