Irving surpasses Edwards as the Mavs defeat the Wolves in the rematch

Kyrie Irving scored 35 points as the Dallas Mavericks recovered from an early attack from Anthony Edwards to post a 120-114 road win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.

Edwards appeared poised to help Minnesota avenge last season's Western Conference finals loss to Dallas after scoring 24 points in a devastating first-quarter performance.

He drained six 3-pointers and shot 6 of 10 from the field to help Minnesota take a 34-26 lead in the second quarter.

But Dallas fought back, outscoring Minnesota 35-25 in the second quarter and taking a 61-59 lead at halftime.

Irving then took over with 16 points in the third quarter as Dallas built a decisive 93-82 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Although Minnesota got back to within two points with just over three minutes left, Dallas regrouped and a huge three-pointer from Luka Doncic and nine points from Irving in the fourth quarter rounded out the win.

“We’re just very resilient and understood the game plan,” a relieved Irving said after the win. “They made a lot of threes.

“We know this team very well. They know us very well – so we knew it would be a personal game. Emotions were high, we were just grateful that we came here and got the title (win).”

Irving led Dallas scoring and Doncic added 24 points. PJ Washington contributed 17 points while Daniel Gafford added 14.

Meanwhile, Minnesota star Edwards outscored the home team's scorers with a game-high 37 points, while newcomer Julius Randle finished with 20 points.

Irving was pleased with a performance that improved Dallas to 3-1 this season as they look to establish themselves as a true contender in the West.

“We're just getting acclimated, we're getting into a great rhythm and getting into great shape,” Irving said of Dallas' promising early season form. “We just want to value possessions right now, we’re just starting to develop that chemistry.”

Elsewhere in the NBA, the Denver Nuggets went to overtime for the second straight game on Tuesday before rallying to a 144-139 road win over the Brooklyn Nets thanks to the 150th triple double of Nikola Jokic's career.

Denver had to make a big effort to earn an overtime win against Toronto on Monday and was once again put in its place by the Nets, who built a 17-point lead in the second quarter before slowly being caught up again.

Jokic forced overtime with nine seconds left and scored with a hook shot to make it 125:125.

Denver then dominated in overtime, outscoring Brooklyn 19-14 and securing a win that helped the Nuggets improve to 2-2.

Jokic finished the game with 29 points, 18 rebounds and 16 assists, while Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon each contributed 24 points. Russell Westbrook contributed 22 points off the bench.

German international Dennis Schröder led the Brooklyn scorers with 28 points.

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