DALLAS, March 10 (UPI) -- Wally Szczerbiak and Kevin Garnett scored 20 of their team's final 23 points Monday night as the Minnesota Timberwolves capped a five-game road trip with a victory over the league-leading Dallas Mavericks, 92-83.
Minnesota scored the first eight points of the game and led by double digits for most of the first half. It had an 18-point advantage early in the third quarter and carried a 65-55 edge into the final 12 minutes.
But Dallas got hot from the outside and tied it for the first time, 71-71, on a 3-pointer by Michael Finley with 5:20 remaining. Szczerbiak countered 20 seconds later with a shot from the arc before Finley sank a layup to make it 74-73 with 4:29 left.
The Mavericks stopped Minnesota and had a chance to take its first lead, but Finley missed a jumper and Szczerbiak nailed another 3-pointer to give the Timberwolves a four-point cushion with 3:32 to play.
Garnett took over, scoring six of Dallas' next seven points to open an 84-77 lead with 1:11 left. Dallas got no closer than five points thereafter.
Garnett collected 31 points and 18 rebounds and Szczerbiak scored 25 points for Minnesota, which won the final two games of the road trip after losing the first three.
Dirk Nowitzki totaled 37 points and 13 rebounds for Dallas before fouling out in the final minutes. Finley added 17 and 13 but shot just 7-of-27, including 2-of-11 from the arc.
Steve Nash scored only eight points on 4-of-13 shooting for Dallas, which connected at just 32 percent (33-of-103) from the field and allowed Minnesota to shoot 48 percent (35-of-73).
The Mavs had won four straight and 10 of the previous 12 games.
