Mavericks hold off T-wolves 104-97 behind Nowitzki

By Dave Campbell

Associated Press

Published: Friday, Feb. 10 2012 8:45 p.m. MST

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Minnesota Timberwolves' Ricky Rubio, right, of Spain, tries to break up the drive by Dallas Mavericks' Delonte West in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Friday, Feb. 10, 2012, in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves wore throwback uniforms to the old 1967 Minnesota Muskies of the American Basketball Association.

Jim Mone, Associated Press

Summary

Dirk Nowitzki welcomed Kevin Love back from his two-game suspension with a season-high 33 points, winning the matchup of Western Conference All-Star power forwards and helping the Dallas Mavericks stave off a Minnesota rally with 104-97 victory over the Timberwolves on Friday.

MINNEAPOLIS — Dirk Nowitzki welcomed Kevin Love back from his two-game suspension with a season-high 33 points, winning the matchup of Western Conference All-Star power forwards and helping the Dallas Mavericks stave off a Minnesota rally with 104-97 victory over the Timberwolves on Friday.

Nowitzki topped 24 points for the fourth straight game by shooting 11 for 19 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Love finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds, going 14 for 14 from the free-throw line, and sparked a late-third-quarter surge by the Wolves to slash a 17-point deficit to 78-75 on Nikola Pekovic's putback to open the fourth.

But they missed a chance to sweep the season series from the Mavericks for the first time since 1995-96.

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