Chris' three points

1. Wolves rookie Jarrett Culver was renowned for his work ethic at Texas Tech. He even scheduled a workout for himself in New York City the night he got drafted. But Culver is attempting to traverse the rigorous 82-game landscape of the NBA season without his body hitting a wall. "I'm just making sure I don't wear myself down because it's my first season, and I don't know how long it's going to be and how much my body is going to wear," he said. "So I trust the staff and everybody, and they're doing a great job of helping me load-management myself." The rookie is averaging 8.3 points and shooting 37% .

2. The Wolves are shooting around less this year on the morning of games, and that's by design of the coaching staff. Coach Ryan Saunders has said he is doing that in part to lessen the mental fatigue players have on game days. If you hold a shootaround, you're asking a lot of their attention early in the day when the time may not be best to use it, Saunders said. "Sometimes if you try to be smart with the time and be efficient with how many times you get in front of a group," he said. "And these guys are just able to lock in later right before the game, then you can be more effective."

3. Karl-Anthony Towns is taking more three-pointers this season, 8.8 per game. That's enough to put him in the top 10 of attempts per game, at No. 7. He's still got a ways to go before catching No. 1 James Harden at 13.5. Towns is hitting 44.3% of his attempts. Among players who have played in at least 10 games and shoot at least four threes per game, that's the 11th-best mark. The Wolves' second-best three-point shooter, Robert Covington, is at 35.7% with injured Jake Layman not far behind at 35.2%.

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Luka!

Mavericks guard Luka Doncic was rookie of the year last season and now is making a push to be considered in the MVP race. Doncic is pushing into territory only Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook have reached — averaging a triple-double. Doncic's numbers were 29.9 points, 10.6 rebounds and 9.4 assists entering Saturday. He has the Mavericks off to a 9-5 start and the franchise could be on track for its first playoff appearance since 2016. The Mavericks haven't made it out of the first round since winning the title in 2011.