MINNEAPOLIS -- Just when Dallas needed it most, Shawn Marion returned to the high-scoring form that has been absent all season.
That's been the story of this remarkable run for the Mavericks.
Marion had a season-high 29 points and 14 rebounds and the Mavericks stretched the league's longest active winning streak to 12 straight games with a 125-112 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.
"I've done that before," Marion said with a chuckle about his monster line. "That's easy."
What isn't so easy is the unselfishness he's shown this season. Marion has averaged at least 17 points a game seven times in his career, but he has taken a reduced role on offense this season in order to focus more on the defensive end. Marion entered the game averaging a modest 11.5 points a game and had a season high of 18 before Monday night's outburst.
"Every week I tell him how important he is to us and how much as a coach I appreciate what he's done this year in terms of changing his game around," coach Rick Carlisle said. "He's the guy that's made the biggest adjustment of any of the new guys that we've got and it's showing up in wins and losses."
On Monday, it was Marion's turn.
"I want to win," Marion said. "At the end of the day, you have to make sacrifices to win. ... Ultimately, I've done a lot of things in this league and I want to win a championship. I want to leave that as my legacy."
"It's been a true team," Carlisle said. "Somebody's down a little, somebody else picks him up. Guys are competitive. Guys have stuck together, cheering for each other in the games. When you get on a roll like this, those kinds of things have got to happen."
