The Dallas Mavericks had such an easy time in Monday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves that starters Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dorian Finney-Smith didn’t even play in the fourth quarter.

That’s what a lopsided game it was as the Mavericks ended up winning, 139-123, at American Airlines Center.

The Mavs scored a massive 81 points in the first half, kept their feet on the Timberwolves’ throats all night and ran their record to 35-23. The 81 points were the most the Mavs have scored in any half this season and the most they’ve scored in any half since Apr. 5, 2009 when they tallied 81 points in the first half of a game against the Phoenix Suns.

“Our shot-making was very, very good,” coach Rick Carlisle said of his team’s first-half offensive explosion. “But I was very concerned with the way they were just driving by us and laying the ball in and getting and-ones.

“We did a better job in the second half. Now it doesn’t really look like it because ultimately the score was tied in the second half, but a team down 16 at halftime is going to make a run.”

The Mavs led 49-27 midway through the second quarter, 81-65 at the half and 110-96 after the third quarter. And when the second unit helped mushroom the Dallas lead to as high as 135-108, that convinced Carlisle to keep his starters chained to the bench in the fourth quarter.

Seth Curry and Boban Marjanovic helped the Mavericks keep their distance from the Wolves down the stretch.

“The first eight minutes of the fourth (quarter) were key because it kept us from having to go back to the starters,” Carlisle said. “That was big, because it took our starters from having to go back in a ratty game.”

Hardaway led the Mavs with 23 points in 28 minutes. He was 8-of-14 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3-point range, and executed a well-timed dunk right in the grill of Jake Layman.

“I think it’s just me going out and playing my brand of basketball and having fun out there and feeding off these guys,” Hardaway said. “Feeding off Luka, feeding off KP.

“And when those guys come out, I’m out there with my original group that we started the season, and we have great chemistry.”

Doncic finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Delon Wright poured in 16 points, Porzingis collected 15 points and nine boards, J. J. Barea came off the bench for 12 points and eight assists, and Maxi Kleber added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Behind 10 points and three assists from Doncic, the Mavs busted out to a 41-27 lead after the first quarter. The second-year point guard also stayed in the game despite walking gingerly on his sore right ankle in the first quarter after he stepped on someone’s foot. He also banged knees on the play, Carlisle said, which caused some pain.

“It bothers me sometimes,” Doncic said. “It’s not healed 100 percent. That’s why I missed the game in Atlanta (this past Saturday). It was swelling.”

On Monday, the only thing that was swelling was the Mavs’ lead. And the Timberwolves, who are 16-40 and have dropped 18 of their last 19 games, couldn’t do anything to stop the damage.

“I feel like when games get going like this, we’re a good offensive team — we can score,” Carlisle said. “When the game gets going like this you can lose your focus defensively. That happened to us in the first half. The second half we did a better job with it.”

Curry also did a better job as he finished the game making 7-of-11 shots, including 5-of-9 from beyond the 3-point line.

“Seth is one of the best shooters in the game,” Carlisle said. “He’s a guy that’s capable of being a strong defender, and has done that a lot for us this year.

“He’s a playmaker, too. He gets it to the rim, he gets guys shot, and he knows how to play the game.”

The same can be said for Hardaway.

“I’m just here to have fun and play basketball,” he said.” I’m here to make Luka’s life easier, make KP’s life easier.

“That goes with me being vocal out there on the floor and knocking down my shots once they’re given to me, and once I’m doing that, everything else takes care of itself.”

And after taking care of the Timberwolves, the Mavs open a four-game road trip Wednesday in San Antonio. So this was a nice tune-up to a week-long trip before the Mavs return home to host New  Orleans on Mar. 4.

“I thought we did what we needed to do, which was get some traction defensively at some point in the game, as we did in the third and fourth quarters,” Carlisle said. “We did a lot of good things in the second half.

“The first half was ratty. We were playing more of their game than we probably wanted to, but we did better things in the second half, and we needed to. But his is a busy week, so it’s good for those guys to get a bit of a break going into the next game in San Antonio, which is very tough.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice

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