After picking up an upset win over the Jazz 24 hours earlier, the Mavericks traveled north to Minnesota to face the Timberwolves. After being ousted by the Mavs in the Western Conference finals last season, the Wolves had revenge on their minds. Despite a red-hot start from Anthony Edwards, the Mavericks stayed close and used a third-quarter charge to take the lead and secure a 120-114 win that increased their record to 3-1.

In this article we will summarize and evaluate each player’s performance on the night. Since we’re only a few iterations deep, we’ve once again listed the basic ground rules for how to approach grading.

• Grades will be awarded to all Mavericks players who logged meaningful playing time/stats.
• The rating system uses an alphabetical scale of: D, C-, C, C+, B-, B, B+, A-, A, A+ (for those who prefer a numerical scale you will find this convenient to use Ten letter grades on a scale of 1 to 10 if you like – we love math people too.
• There is no F grade. It would undermine credibility to label anyone capable of making the NBA roster a “failure,” no matter how bad the game they played was.
• Players are generally ranked according to scale. In other words, a Luka A+ will look different than a Dwight Powell A+ for obvious reasons.

If a player logged mostly unnecessary time and had little or no stats, he will not be included or will otherwise be given a “N/A” instead of a grade.

Without further ado, here are the grades for your Dallas Mavericks in their win over the Timberwolves.

Luka Doncic: B-

24 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal

Luka had some good numbers on some not-so-good shooting. In the first game of this encounter his odds were disastrous. They were marginally better tonight, but his threes have taken a nosedive two nights in a row. After going 1-9 from three games last night, he went 1-8 tonight. However, this is Luka and the three he hit were a massive knockout blow. With 1:04 left, the Mavericks had a five-point lead and the ball. Luka was well defended, but went for a three-pointer that was closer to the half-court line than the three-point line. Nothing but a net to give the Mavs an eight-point lead.

Kyrie Irving: A+

35, 4 points, rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal

For the second straight game, Irving was red hot and appeared to be in much better shape than he had been in the first two games of the season. He once again shot nearly 60% from the field and a whopping 75% from three, going 6-for-8 from distance. The only blemish on his game tonight was that he inexplicably missed two free throws with 20 seconds left and the Mavs were ahead by four points. Still, he gets top marks tonight for his point total, huge three-pointer after huge three-pointer as the Wolves made advances, and his ridiculous shooting percentage.

Klay Thompson: C+

7 points, 1 assist, 1 steal

Finally, in this fourth game of the season, Thompson had a subpar performance as he went 2 for 7 from the floor (all three-point attempts). Even in a bad game, you could see the attention he got just from being on the field, which helped open things up for others. Nevertheless, this was an unforgettable event.

PJ Washington: B+

17 points, eight rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal

Washington kept its momentum going with another fine performance. Just short of his second double-double in a row, he shot 53.8% from the floor and 50% on threes (3 of 6) and finally made the breakthrough. He actually cooled down as the game went on, but seems to be getting into a rhythm.

Dereck Lively II: B+

5 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block

Lively’s box score won’t blow you away, but he had a big impact on this game with his interior defense and his efforts to compensate for Rudy Gobert. He grabbed four of his nine rebounds on the offensive glass and forced turnovers with quick hands for a nice bunch of steals.

Naji Marshall: B-

4 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals

Marshall had a solid game, but still didn’t show his greatest potential. He seems a little more comfortable standing on the floor and being able to read his teammates’ tendencies. His biggest highlight of the night was undoubtedly the steal he took from Anthony Edwards with 13 seconds left in the game. This came right after Kyrie missed two free throws and his quick hands put the game on ice.

Quentin Grimes: B

9 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal

Grimes broke out a bit in this game, scoring all of his points on a very efficient 3-for-5 game from three points. His stats weren’t overwhelming, but it’s important to note that he did his damage in just 12 minutes of play and looked smart doing it. He was in the right place at the right time and took advantage of his opportunities.

Daniel Gafford: B+

14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block

Gafford remains Gafford. He has consistently done what you would expect, aside from shooting percentages that were below his league-leading percentages last season. That changed tonight when he went 6 of 6 from the field. While it would have been nice to see a higher rebound total, it was again difficult to see a major flaw in his game tonight.

Spencer Dinwiddie: C+

3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Dinwiddie shot a paltry 1-for-5 on the night and that shooting percentage far outweighs the rest of his resume for the night. A few rebounds and assists were nice for his 18 minutes of action, but you only have to look at last night to see what he is capable of on this team.

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