MINNEAPOLIS -- After hammering home a big, soaring dunk in the lane, Karl-Anthony Towns didn't celebrate. The third-year Minnesota Timberwolves big man had a stern look on his face and turned and ran back down on defense.

Saturday's game was all business for Towns. He was determined and Minnesota had its biggest win of the young season.

Towns recovered from the worst offensive performance of his career by scoring 31 points, and Andrew Wiggins added 23 points as the Timberwolves cruised to an easy 112-99 victory against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday.

"You didn't see me smiling once," Towns said. "It was business. The situation was more in my favor today. I was able to go out there and play my game."

Towns was held to just two points on 1-of-7 shooting in a win against New Orleans on Wednesday, but he had his way with Dallas. He added 12 rebounds and three blocks, notching his seventh double-double in nine games this season.

Taj Gibson had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota, which has won four games in a row for the first time since December 2012.

"It's just one of many, and hopefully four will seem like a little bit to us," Towns said. "It'll seem something like we're having a bad season if we're only getting four in a row at some point. So we've got to continue to grow, continue to play at a high level and do it night in and night out."

The Timberwolves' lead ballooned to 28 points in the third quarter as they coasted against the lowly Mavericks (1-10), who are off to their worst start since going 1-23 to start the 1993-94 season.

"We have to bear down, collectively, come with the energy and effort," Dallas forward Harrison Barnes said. "Our starts in the first and the third have been problematic for us all season. Got down big early, fought our way back, get down big in the second half, so, that's on us as starters or the starting unit at the time. We've got to be better."

Rookie Dennis Smith Jr. had 18 points to lead the Mavericks. Barnes had 17 points but was scoreless in the second half, and former Wolves guard J.J. Barea had 14 points and six assists off the bench for the Dallas, which has lost six in a row.

"We haven't had a practice in a long time the way the schedule's fallen," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said about Monday's upcoming practice. "That's a very important practice for us to shore some things up, to work on avoiding the catastrophic turnovers, (and) do a better job rebounding the ball, those kind of things. The possession of the ball stats are hurting us in a big way."

The arrival of Jimmy Butler, Gibson, Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford has sparked Minnesota (6-3) to the Northwest Division lead this season, meshing around young stars Towns and Wiggins. They had five wins by single digits before Saturday's win and are 6-1 with Butler in the lineup.

Butler was held to just four points, his fewest in a game since scoring three on Jan. 27.

"I'm not giving up anything," Butler said when asked if he's giving up part of his game to help teammates. As long as we win, I'm happy. That's what they brought me here for, to help this organization win. I feel like I'm doing a great job of that. I love to get my teammates involved. That's all I care about. Like I've said my entire career, as long as we're winning, I don't give a (darn) what my stats look like. I think winning makes everybody happy."

NOTES: Dallas SG Wesley Matthews started the game despite being bothered by left foot soreness. Matthews worked out pregame to determine his availability. He played 26 minutes and scored five points. ... The Mavericks started C Salah Mejri on Saturday to combat Minnesota C Karl-Anthony Towns. It was Mejri's first start of the season and just his 18th in 114 career games. Nerlens Noel had started Friday at New Orleans. ... The Timberwolves host Charlotte on Sunday for their second set of 15 back-to-back games this season. Minnesota lost each game of its first back-to-back of the season without Jimmy Butler in the lineup. ... The Timberwolves outrebounded Dallas 48-31. It was their largest rebounding margin of the season and they are 5-0 when outrebounding opponents. ... The Mavericks sat out G Seth Curry (stress reaction, left tibia), F Dorian Finney-Smith (left knee soreness) and F Josh McRoberts (lower extremity injury).