The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Christmas Day on Wednesday afternoon, nearly blowing a 28-point Minnesota lead before losing 105-99. Dallas cut the lead to two in the final minute but was never able to regain the lead.

The biggest story of the game is Luka Doncic’s calf strain, which forced him to miss the second half. Shams Charania said Doncic is expected to be out for an “extended period of time,” but Dallas will know more after an MRI scan on Thursday.

In Doncic’s absence, Kyrie Irving put up 39 points while carrying the team on his back. Unfortunately for the Mavs, it was too little, too late.

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s loss.

READ MORE: Luka Doncic expected to miss ‘extended time’ with calf injury

Minnesota’s offense has struggled in recent games, so this was an opportunity to build a dominant defense. Dallas’ defense was fine in the first quarter and great in the fourth, but stops were hard to come by in the second and third quarters. The Timberwolves scored 64 points by shooting 24/40 (60%) from the floor and 10/18 (55.6%) from three. 13 of those field goals came from an assist, highlighting how smoothly their offense ran. With the game getting tighter at the end, a better performance after Doncic left could have made the difference.

Kyrie Irving paced the team with 39 points on 14/27 shooting, and Doncic played well before being sidelined with an injury. Everyone else was lackluster, combining for 46 points on 17/51 (33.3%) shooting. That’s not good enough in a game without Luka Doncic, especially when bigs Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II were a combined 3/9 and Spencer Dinwiddie was 0/7. Maxi Kleber was the only other Maverick to shoot over 50% from the floor in the game, and he shot three times. This team has a lot of depth, but they’ve had a bitch like this from time to time.

Dallas will likely be without Luka Doncic for a few weeks as he recovers from that calf strain, and the Mavs will want to play it as safe as possible. This is the fifth lower body injury he has suffered this season and we are only 30 games in. They’ve played well in games without Luka Doncic for most of this season, including a big win against the OKC Thunder, but this could be a long time without him. If Wednesday’s second and third quarters were any indication, Jason Kidd needs to make some adjustments.

READ MORE: Mavericks’ comeback bid to Timberwolves on Christmas falls close, losing 105-99

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