DALLAS — With the game slipping away against one of the NBA’s worst teams, the Dallas Mavericks turned to their reliable fourth-quarter duo of Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry.

Nowitzki had 30 points and 11 rebounds, Terry contributed 18 points, and the Mavericks rallied down the stretch for a 104-96 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, giving Dallas 50 wins for the 11th straight season.

Nowitzki and Terry combined for 19 points in the final quarter, both going 4 for 7 from the field, to help the Mavs win for the third time in four games.

“Dirk said during a timeout, ‘We can’t lose this one,'” Terry said.

On just about every fourth-quarter possession, coach Rick Carlisle called for the pick-and-roll with Nowitzki and Terry. Dallas finished with an 11-2 run over the final 2:38.

“It’s the key to our success late in games, it’s no secret, if it’s a close game late in the fourth quarter, Coach is going to ring up our numbers and we need to answer,” Terry said. “We work extremely hard on (the pick-and-roll) in practice, and during these types of games our team needs us and that’s what clutch players do by coming up big when the team needs them most.”

Shawn Marion added 17 points, Peja Stojakovic had 16, and Tyson Chandler came up with nine points and 10 rebounds for Dallas.

Anthony Randolph had a career-high 31 points with 11 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who’ve lost their last five games and are without injured All-Star forward Kevin Love.

Randolph made his first start of the season in place of Love. Randolph, acquired from the Knicks in a three-team trade on Feb. 22, had a 23-point first half, 17 in the second quarter.

“We’re missing a huge part of our team without Kevin being here,” said Randolph. “I think if he was here, we definitely would have won the game.”