If it's opportunity that Anthony Randolph wanted, it's opportunity he received in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 104-96 loss at Dallas on Thursday night.

Buried on the New York Knicks' bench all season until the Wolves acquired him in a trade-deadline deal last month, Randolph started Thursday in place of injured Kevin Love and responded by scoring a career-high 31 points.

His scoring both inside and out kept the Wolves competitive until the Mavericks' finishing 11-2 run, even though they were missing their All-Star forward and a guy who grabs more than 15 rebounds a night.

Without Love, the Wolves battled the Mavs nearly even (43-38) on the backboards on a night when Dallas won its 50th game for the 11th consecutive season, the third longest such stretch in NBA history.

Without Love, Randolph surpassed the 28 points he scored for Golden State against Orlando in December 2009, even though he didn't score again after making a layup with 89 seconds left in the third quarter.

"I feel like I don't have to prove nothing to nobody," he said after also grabbing 11 rebounds in 36 minutes. "I'm just happy to be able to play a game that I love. That's all that I've always wanted to do."

He got a big chance Thursday when Love was home in Minnesota resting and rehabilitating an injured groin in hope of being able to play Sunday against Boston at Target Center.

"It was weird," Randolph said about Love's absence. "We'll be happy when he comes back."

Just four days after they were clobbered at home by equally lousy Sacramento, the Wolves made the Mavs work for that 50th victory. The game changed late when Tyson Chandler's three-point play turned Dallas' one-point deficit into a two-point lead, giving the Mavericks the lead for good with 2:38 left.

"They really made us reach deep," said Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki, who delivered a 30-point, 11-rebound night.

The Wolves did so after coach Kurt Rambis left all of his starters except for Randolph on the bench for the entire fourth quarter while he went with reserves Anthony Tolliver, Jonny Flynn, Martell Webster and Wayne Ellington.

"I thought they played hard, I thought they played well," Rambis said. "They did a good job defensively. They were very active. They were helping each other. They did a good job moving the ball. They got themselves on nice little roll."

Randolph played the final 5:30 with those four reserves and didn't score down the stretch. Until then, he scored inside with a nifty reverse layup and outside with a smooth jumper.

In the final 90 seconds, he pushed the ball with ease on a fast break and made a point guard's pass to Flynn for a layup that brought the Wolves within a basket for the final time.

"Just God-given ability, I was blessed to be able to do a lot of different things," Randolph said. "The Timberwolves gave me a chance to come here and play, coming out of the situation with New York where I really didn't see the floor too much unless it was garbage minutes. I'm just thankful for my opportunity, trying to make the best out of it."

NOTHING BREWING

Corey Brewer - who was traded to New York in the Randolph deal, waived and signed by Dallas - was inactive Thursday because Shawn Marion returned to action.

"I love him," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "He's a great worker, a tireless worker. He has the most energy and stamina of any player I've worked with in some time. We like him because of what he can do now but we also like him for the future. I just really feel he's going to be a core guy here as a young, developing player and I think he'll be a rotation player."

A LITTLE BIRDIE

After the game, Wolves forward Michael Beasley - one of the starters who didn't play in the fourth quarter - retweeted on Twitter this posting from another person: "I sure wish coach would just let @RealMikebeasley play his game!"

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/25/2751460/randolphs-career-best-31-points.html#

And he isn't afraid to bench his starters in the 4Q if they aren't giving an effort.

franco12 wrote:Rambis would be a great option for us at coach - he clearly seems to find a way to get production out of players that D'Antoni fails to.

And he isn't afraid to bench his starters in the 4Q if they aren't giving an effort.

lol the wolves are 17-55 and have a ton of talent. if he was doing that here, you'd be calling for his head.

The funny thing about our coach is he will play someone like Jefferies 20+ minutes a night who happens to be one of the top 5 worse offensive players in the nba; someone that can't rebound or make a lay up and this kid never got a shot.

Having AR, Moz, resigning chandler would have given us a great front court and helped keep amare fresh. Its really hard to have a promising young team destroyed after the past decade of garbage

knicks1248 wrote:The kid played terrible in ny...nobody doubted his talents, but he clearly struggled in this offense

Chauncey Billups is clearly struggling in this offense and he is an All Star with a ring.

Saying someone "struggled in an offense" is a simplistic and arbitrary view. Sometimes the reasons a player does not develop with a particular franchise are no so apparent from a distant view. What is the responsibility of the coaching staff (most teams have five) to identify and resolve any lingering issues in skill set or approach? That includes on or OFF the court. That includes understanding what motivates a player and what makes him unique.

These rosters are composed with forethought. They are not simply thrown together. There are legions of employees who do background checks and decipher what the player is about. The Knicks knew exactly what they were getting in Randolph. It was their responsibility to bring the best out of him. Not the worst.

Otherwise, why invest in his acquisition in the first place?

Assistant coaches need to be good for more than shooting drills.

OasisBU wrote:I am more concerned with our current squad putting it together than AR busting out for 31 on a crappy team. There are plenty of players who suck that have big games once in a while - Eddy Curry anyone? Now AR may turn into a nice player and then we missed out but we have bigger fish to fry.

Amen! I'm not even all that impressed with Kevin Love and his double double streak. Like, you broke Mose Malone's record in the most meaningless and arbitrary way possible. Ur team is second from the bottom. AR has a good game for them. Good for him. Its a pickup game as far as I'm concerned, and while guys who can put up numbers does prove there is some talent, it doesn't prove much else. Alot of bums drop big points every once in a while, and AR dropping 30 on Minny means absolutely nothing to me.

If he had, maybe the Knicks wouldn't have had to include all of the players that most of you are constantly crying about.

That's 32MM tied up in two guys that are below average defenders.

Chandler (9M) Gallo (4M) Moz (3M) AR (3M) Felton (8M)

That's 30MM

At 6'8, 6'10, 6'11, 7,0'

You win in this leaguye with size. All of those guys were going to get better as will Tony and Laundry. STAT needs the floor spaced to be effective he also needs rest.

Melo isn't getting better our guys would have. For AR not to play was a joke. Turiaf is up and down all the time and Jefferies is terrible.

The Knicks needed to be patient and get some playoff experience and grow as a team. There would have always been trades that could have been done to improve this team. The Melo trade made us worse at every position. If Mike sticks with guys like Duhon and Jefferies he should have been good enough to define a role for the kid and use him effectively as a coach. As is we gave away the house for someone that can't win a game by himself against the Cavs, Pacers or Pistons.

CashMoney wrote:

islesfan wrote:The trades have nothing to do with this. The point is that Antoni never gave the kid a chance to play in games and his ability.

If he had, maybe the Knicks wouldn't have had to include all of the players that most of you are constantly crying about.

Court time is earned in practice. When AR was given a limited opportunity to open the season he looked lost out there. The Knicks started the season with going to the playoffs as a target and with a 3-8 start how do you continue to play someone who is hurting the team? The answer is you don't which is why AR and TM started riding the pine.

I don't even buy that anymore...Sometimes, for the good of your team's present and FUTURE (we were only talking immediate future too--not 3 years down the road--the kid was good enough to excel in the NBA--already proved that in GS..He wouldn't have taken that long to get this if given a proper chance), you give a guy that is that talented a longer leash to grasp what you want him to do..You stick with your superior talent through thick and thin..You don't yank the cord outta the wall at the first sign of trouble..Not the way this should've been handled. We were never a good enough team to NOT find out more about Anthony Randolph and what he could do for us in real games that mean something, when the adrenaline's flowing..