Kyrie Irving scored 35 points as the Dallas Mavericks recovered from an early Anthony Edwards charge to earn a 120-114 victory 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 rained in 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 struck back, outscoring Minnesota 35-25 in the second quarter and taking a 61-59 lead at halftime.

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

Although Minnesota rallied to get within two points with just over three minutes left, Dallas regrouped and a monster 3-pointer from Luka Doncic and nine fourth-quarter points from Irving sealed the win.

“We’re just very resilient and understood what the game plan was,” 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 was going to be a personal issue. Emotions were high, so I was just grateful that we came here and got the dub (win).”

Irving led the scoring in Dallas, with Doncic adding 24 points. PJ Washington scored 17 points, while Daniel Gafford added 14.

Minnesota star Edwards, meanwhile, led the home team scorers with a game-high 37 points, while new recruit Julius Randle finished with 20.

Irving was pleased with a performance that saw Dallas improve to 3-1 on the season as they look to establish themselves as true contenders in the West.

“We’re just getting settled in, getting into a good rhythm and getting into good shape,” Irving said of Dallas’ promising form early in the season. “We just want to appreciate assets right now, we’re just developing that chemistry.”

Elsewhere in the NBA, the Denver Nuggets were forced to play overtime for the second straight night on Tuesday before edging out a 144-139 win over the Brooklyn Nets thanks to the 150th triple double of Nikola Jokic’s career.

Forced to dig deep to earn an overtime victory over Toronto on Monday, Denver was once again forced into the hole by the Nets, who jumped to a 17-point lead in the second quarter before being slowly reeled in.

Jokic forced overtime with just nine seconds left and hit a hook shot to make it 125-125.

Denver then dominated in overtime, defeating Brooklyn 19-14 to earn the win, allowing the Nuggets to improve to 2-2.

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

Germany international Dennis Schroder led the scorers in Brooklyn with 28 points.

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