Can the Timberwolves slow down Luka Doncic and the Mavs?
USA TODAY Sports’ Jeff Zillgitt breaks down how the Timberwolves match up with the Dallas Mavericks.
Sports Seriously
Luka Doncic‘s dramatic 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds to go was the difference as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-108 in a thriller Friday night.
The first team All-NBA guard got the ball and got switched onto Rudy Gobert, who recently took home his fourth defensive player of the year award. Doncic put Gobert on skates before drilling the go-ahead 3-pointer over the 7-footer. And Doncic then let Gobert hear about it.
The sequence capped a brutal collapse for the Timberwolves, who now head to Dallas down 2-0 after losing the first two games in Minneapolis.
Minnesota, in the Western Conference finals for just the second time in team history, led by as many as 18 points. Though their advantage had slipped away by the 5:17 mark of the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves still led 108-103 with 1:29 to go before a series of errors and unfortunate events set up Doncic’s heroics.
Kyrie Irving hit a 3-pointer with 1:05 to go and then Jason Kidd successfully used a coach’s challenge to get the ball back to the Mavericks after Jaden McDaniels turned the ball over out of bounds on the Timberwolves’ ensuing possession — on a play it certainly looked like he was fouled on. Nothing came of that turnover, but Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards threw the ball away again with 12.1 seconds left, setting the stage for Doncic’s game-winner.
Doncic recorded a triple-double, finishing with a game-high 32 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists.