MAVERICKS (14-14) at MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (14-15)

Time: 7 p.m.

Place: Target Center, Minneapolis.

TV: Bally Sports Southwest.

Radio: The Eagle 97.1 FM; Univision Zona MX 99.1 FM (Spanish)

About the Mavericks: They have been stuck around .500 since their first game in December. They have not gone more than one game above or below .500 since Dec. 3 . . . This will be the first of four meetings against the Wolves, who they will see again on Tuesday in Dallas . . . The teams also play twice in five days in March . . . The Mavericks will be without Luka Dončić, who will miss his fourth consecutive game because of left ankle soreness. That injury started in mid-November against Denver and has lingered, forcing him to miss eight games, total. The Mavericks are 2-5 this season in games he’s missed . . . Willie Cauley-Stein remains sidelined for personal reasons and Sterling Brown (left foot) is day-to-day . . . And there was more bad news on the health front with swingman Reggie Bullock entering health and safety protocols for COVID-19. Bullock is the first Maverick player this season to have to enter the COVID-19 protocols . . . In addition, Frank Ntilikina and Josh Green will miss Sunday’s game with illnesses of undisclosed variety . . . The Mavericks have been idle since Wednesday’s 107-104 overtime loss to the Lakers. This will be the longest time between games this season, other than the All-Star break . . . They have been a fairly solid defensive group of late and have climbed to 13th in the league in overall defensive rating. They are allowing 104.6 points per game (fifth in the NBA) and have kept four of their last seven opponents under 100 points and nobody has scored more than 107 on them . . . December has been good to Jalen Brunson, who is averaging 15.3 points, 5 assists, 3.6 rebounds and shooting 51.9 percent from the field this month. He has scored in double figures in all nine games . . . It’s a modest stretch, but the Mavericks have gone 3-2 in their last five, despite shooting just 31.1 percent from 3-point range in that stretch. They have outrebounded opponents by more than six boards per game over those five games . . . They have won four of their last five road games going back to before Thanksgiving.

About the Wolves: They are coming off an impressive 110-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, but have lost high-scoring Anthony Edwards (22.1 points, 5.8 rebounds per game) to health and safety protocols. They also will be without Taurean Prince for the same reason . . . The Wolves have been stockpiling talent for years without much to show for it, but they have made a jump this season into solid playoff contention with a nice mix of offense and defense. They lead the NBA in 3-pointers attempted and are third in long balls made at 14.2 per game. But they also are 11th in total defensive rating, partly because they are No. 1 at forcing turnovers (17.4 per game) . . . Karl-Anthony Towns remains one of the NBA’s most versatile big men, averaging 24.4 points, 9 rebounds and 3.4 assists. He’s also hitting a whopping 42 percent from 3-point land. And he shoots a lot of them (5.2 heaves per game) . . . But not nearly as many as D’Angelo Russell, who hoists 8.8 3-pointers per game and makes 33.3 percent of his tries . . . In the win over the Lakers, the Wolves limited LA to 38.5 percent shooting and 27.9 percent from 3-point range . . . They also outrebounded the Lakers 61-36, which is a bit unusual considering the Wolves are not a particularly strong rebounding team . . . Beating the Lakers ran the Wolves’ winning streak to three games. That run started with road victories at Portland and Denver.

Twitter: @ESefko

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