Minnesota @ Dallas preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 3, 2019 ) Minnesota 110, Dallas 108

Luka Doncic continues to power the Dallas Mavericks to wins and he will look to carry the load again when his club hosts the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. Doncic had 33 points and a career-high 18 rebounds in Tuesday's 118-97 road win over the New Orleans Pelicans as Dallas won for the eighth time in nine games.

Doncic made five 3-pointers during the win over the Pelicans and was most stunned by his stellar effort on the boards. "I was underneath and the ball is coming to me," Doncic said in a postgame television interview. "I didn't know I had 18 rebounds. I was like, what is going on? Obviously, we had a great game and hopefully we can keep going like that." Minnesota is opening a four-game road trip and is coming off a dreadful 115-107 home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. "Very disappointing," Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders told reporters. "You don't want to say it's games you should win, but we're getting guys back, I felt good going into this (game). ... We lacked energy, big time."

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), FS Southwest (Dallas)

ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (10-9): Rookie guard Jarrett Culver is averaging 9.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists but he is shooting a frigid 40.5 percent from the free-throw line. "He's a good shooter," point guard Jeff Teague told reporters of Culver. "It's just a mental thing. He's going to start knocking them down. He works hard and practices all day." Small forward Andrew Wiggins scored 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting against Memphis to end a streak of 11 straight 20-point efforts.

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (14-6): Doncic won Western Conference player of the month honors for October/November after averaging 30.8 points, 9.9 rebounds and 9.6 assists over an 18-game span. "He's been great really from the start of the entire season," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. "It's really cool. The guy's fun to watch, and he's a great competitor." Backup guard Seth Curry established season bests of 19 points and five 3-pointers as the Mavericks had a 53-28 edge in bench points versus New Orleans.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Timberwolves have won seven of the past 10 meetings.

2. Dallas PF Kristaps Porzingis had just seven points on 2-of-11 shooting against New Orleans and is a woeful 11-of-43 from the field over his past four games.

3. Minnesota C Karl-Anthony Towns was just 7-of-20 shooting against the Grizzlies but had 21 points and 12 rebounds for his ninth consecutive double-double.

PREDICTION: Mavericks 115, Timberwolves 108