"Not that he needed validation, but Dirk Nowitzki put his stamp on why he was deserving to make the NBA All-Star Game for the 11th consecutive season.

Nowitzki drilled jumpers from all angles of the Target Center on Friday night as he poured in a season-high 33 points to pace the Dallas Mavericks to a 104-97 triumph over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Coupled with the return of point guard Jason Kidd, the Mavs went to battle with a full roster for one of the few times this season. The result was a road win against a team that had been 2-0 against them this season.

Nowitzki converted 11 of 19 shots and has scored 112 points over the past four games.

"It started early," said Nowitzki, who also had three assists and three blocks. "I had some good looks at the 3's.

"They had some matchup problems with Vince [Carter], and that's all we were running at the beginning, posting Vince on [Luke] Ridnour. Then they went to zone pretty good and I had some good looks and was able to knock a few 3's in.

"Usually when you make the first couple of shots that go up, I just kept shooting all night."

While Nowitzki was the ringleader who delivered the most damage for the Mavericks, Kidd was the inspirational leader. Back for the first time since missing six games with a strained right calf, Kidd played 27 minutes, scored eight points, picked up five rebounds, handed out 10 assists and recorded a pair of steals."