The good news is that no member of the Dallas Mavericks got injured during Wednesday’s game against Minnesota. TheKyrie bad news is that the Mavs came up a point short and lost to the Timberwolves, 115-114, at American Airlines Center.

It was the 10th loss in the last 13 games for the Mavs as they continue to bob and weave their way through a bushel of injuries that have totally prevented them from putting their best foot forward. The loss also dropped the Mavs to 23-21 and in ninth place in the Western Conference going into Thursday’s game at Oklahoma City.

“We played hard and we gave ourselves a chance to win that game,” coach Jason Kidd said. “It’s just a couple of small things of late in the game. I thought the guys played hard. We kept fighting.”

Plano native Julius Randle split a pair of free throws to give Minnesota a 111-102 lead with 3:02 remaining. The Mavericks went on a 9-2 run, capped by Kyrie Irving’s three-pointer after Anthony Edwards (21 points) missed one of two free throws. That got the Mavericks within112-111 with just 21.7 seconds left. Mike Conley followed with two charity tosses to pad Minnesota’s lead to 114-111 with 11.8 seconds to go.

But while being heavily guarded by Edwards, Irving missed a three-pointer that would have tied the game. Then, Jaden McDaniels converted one-of-two free Gaffordthrows with three seconds remaining to give Minnesota a four-point lead, and Irving closed out the scoring with a bucket from downtown at the buzzer.

It was another game that saw over half of the Mavs’ regular rotation players on the bench in street clothes. The Mavs played without Luka Dončić (left calf strain), Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture), Klay Thompson (left ankle sprain), Naji Marshall (illness), Jaden Hardy (right ankle sprain), Dwight Powell (right hip strain) and Dante Exum (right wrist surgery).

The Mavs found out Wednesday afternoon that Lively was going to be sidelined and re-evaluated in four weeks. It was a bitter pill for them to swallow.

“There’s nothing like waking up from your nap, or you’re waking up from great rest, and you find out that your big fella is going to be out for however long,” said Irving, who had 36 points and nine assists. “But we got to adjust, and that’s going to be the sentiment.

“But it’s just going to be next man up and we’re just going to have to figure it out. We got a lot of guys playing that coming into the season we knew they were going to be impactful, but we didn’t think they were going to be probably starting games.”

The loss of Lively crippled the Mavs on several fronts, especially in a game against the Timberwolves when Dallas had to contend with centers Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid. Gobert finished with 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks, and Reid collected 12 points and six boards.

“Obviously, it’s devastating to lose a player like (Lively) for a couple of months, but it’s a long season,” Washington said. “Everybody has to come ready to play each and every night.Kyrie

“But that being said, obviously it’s sad news. But we just got to keep playing.”

With Edwards heating up, the Timberwolves mounted an 82-74 lead with 4:33 remaining in the third quarter following a three-point play by Randle. And after a pair of three-pointers from Reid and another one from Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Minnesota was able to stretch its lead to 99-87 less than three minutes into the fourth quarter before the Mavs mounted their late rally.

“They had 34 free throws,” Kidd said. “We were attacking, but we only got to the line 19 times. We got to continue to keep attacking until the whistle is blown, but they stepped up and made their free throws.

“Coming down the stretch you got to be perfect if you’re down. Unfortunately, we just didn’t get a rebound. The energy and effort was at a high”

MavsThe loss of over half of their regular rotation players has handcuffed the Mavs and made winning games a lot tougher. They found that out in this rematch of last year’s Western Conference finals won by the Mavs.

“The great thing about it is we can find a way to win with the group that we do have,” said Washington, who finished with 30 points and seven rebounds. “Everybody just has to lock in and pay attention to detail, and we can’t really have mistakes.

“I thought in the fourth quarter we let a lot of easy baskets get away from us. As far as offensive rebounding, we gave up too many in the fourth, and those cost us. Just little plays like that, if we take those away, we obviously win this game, so that’s devastating.”

Also devastating was the fact that due to injuries to Lively and Powell, the only healthy centers left on the roster were Maxi Kleber and Gafford. Gafford finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, and Kleber added 10 points in 16 minutes and was 4-of-5 from the field.

“He was great,” Kidd said, referring to Kleber. “He’s on a minutes restriction and we’re playing him 15 minutes. We try to use every minute that we can – every second – wisely.Kleber

“His ability to set screens, his ability to play defense, his ability to score for us was really high. But he’s been playing like that of late and we’re going to continue to need him while we’re short-handed.”

McDaniels scored 11 of his team-high 27 points in the first half, when Randle had 10 of his 16 points and when Gobert also tallied 10 points.

Overall, the Mavs shot 50 percent from the field, but missed 21 of their 29 attempts from beyond the three-point line. Minnesota, meanwhile, shot 45.7 percent from the floor and converted 11 of their 29 shots from three-point range.

Still, the Mavs would like to be in a position where they are totally healthy so they can show everybody what they’re all about. However, in the quagmire they find themselves in, Washington said: “It’s what we signed up for. There are no excuses. We’re all pros. So just got to go out there and handle business.

“Every team goes through this. You hate to see your team go through this, obviously, but there’s nothing we can do about it. We just have to go out there and play no matter who’s on the floor and just have the mentality of trying to go out there and win.”

X: @DwainPrice

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