Thrilling Showdown: Timberwolves Edge Mavericks to Prevent Western Conference Finals Sweep!
DALLAS (AP)— Karl-Anthony Towns scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half, and the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Dallas Mavericks 105-100 on Tuesday night to escape a sweep in the Western Conference Finals. Anthony Edwards contributed 29 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists to help the Wolves advance to the conference finals for the first time in 20 years, and only the second time in the franchise’s 35 seasons. Towns, who was shooting 28% from the field entering the series, went 9 for 13, including four of five from deep.
“He got himself going by going to the hoop,” coach Chris Finch explained. “Played quickly off the catch.” remained confident. He didn’t really look for his three until the second half. He had just set his feet. He was ready. “And they were enormous.” Now, third-seeded Minnesota returns home for Game 5 on Thursday night, hoping to make the series even more interesting against No. 5 seed Dallas. Luka Doncic had 28 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists in his sixth triple-double of the playoffs, but he and teammate Kyrie Irving shot only 13 of 39 from the field. Irving, who had previously gone 14-0 in closeout games, concluded with 16 points.
“The game is on me. “Just didn’t give enough energy,” said Doncic, who shot 7 of 21 from the field, including 1 of 5 in the fourth when he and Irving combined as closers to build a 3-0 series lead. “They won a game. We only need to focus on the next one.” The Wolves have led in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter in every game in the series, and they did it again. Towns, who picked up his fifth foul midway through the third quarter, gave the Wolves the lead for good with a 3-pointer with 5:41 left, then sank another from deep the next time down.
With 39 seconds left, Edwards put the Wolves up five with a jumper just inside the arc, and Minnesota held on despite Edwards fouling Doncic on a made 3-pointer, leaving Dallas behind by three points with 12 seconds remaining. Doncic missed the free throw, and Naz Reid scored to bring the margin back to five with 11 seconds left. Towns appeared to be getting into a groove, scoring 10 points in the first seven minutes of the third quarter before picking up his fifth foul for elbowing P.J. Washington Jr. in the face while going up for a jumper.
The call against Towns resulted in a technical foul against Finch from the second row, where he has been since the beginning of the second round of the playoffs due to a knee ailment that necessitated surgery. Assistant Micah Nori has been on the sidelines. Finch flirted with a second technical, which would have resulted in an ejection, a few minutes later when Edwards was penalised for his fourth foul while attempting a steal against Daniel Gafford. Towns fouled out in the final two minutes, and Edwards and Rudy Gobert each finished with five.
“We weathered a lot of foul trouble out there, which was frustrating to say the least,” Finch stated. “Credit to our guys. They discovered a means to win the game. It was similar to Games 1 and 2, and we were able to complete it tonight.”
The Wolves avoided being the 16th club out of 21 to be swept after dropping the first three games of a series that began at home. Now they’ll strive to become the fourth team to force at least six games. Minnesota’s Mike Conley scored 14 points, while Rudy Gobert added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Jaden Hardy scored 10 of his 13 points in a 3:38 span that culminated in the first bucket of the fourth quarter, a corner three that put Dallas within two. The fourth quarter included four of the game’s eleven lead changes.
Dereck Lively II, the Mavs’ rookie centre, was out with a neck injury sustained when Towns accidently kneed him in the back of the head during Game 3. Maxi Kleber, who had been sidelined since May 3 with a separated shoulder, returned to give Dallas another option inside. But Daniel Gafford didn’t have his usual tag team.
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