Mavs 109, Wolves 108: Another Dončić Dagger Gives Dallas a 2-0 Series Lead

Minnesota Timberwolves Head Coach Chris Finch said on Thursday that his team couldn’t have played much worse in their 108-105 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. But the great thing about the NBA is you don’t have to wait long to get back after it and seize an opportunity to right those wrongs.

Finch said pregame on Friday that his team needed to focus better on the game plan, as he didn’t think the group was as locked in as they needed to be in Game 1. However, the fourth-year coach added that he was confident his guys would be fine, that they were excited.

The only thing 48 hours off couldn’t necessarily fix is the fatigue setting in for Wolves star Anthony Edwards. Finch didn’t seem concerned ahead of Game 2, saying that one of the things they love about Edwards — who admitted postgame to being tired throughout Game 1 — is his truthfulness, and that the two-time All-Star is “entitled to have a game like that once in a while.” But, Finch added that after Ant tried to find it and couldn’t in Game 1, that his star will be “ready to go, mentally and physically” for Game 2.

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Unfortunately, the Wolves didn’t back up that confidence in the first couple possessions of the game. After Luka Dončić threw a lob to Daniel Gafford for a dunk just before the shot clock horn on the opening trip, Mike Conley had to burn a timeout because no one stayed in the back-court to provide a target to inbound the ball to.

After a Game 1 effort mired by confusion and fatigue, the Timberwolves defense followed a very clear directive on defense: play a far more aggressive high wall coverage on Dončić and tag the roller to try and take away lob dunks. Minnesota also switched any screen that didn’t involve a Dallas big man (small-to-small switches). Edwards, meanwhile, continued to guard Kyrie Irving, but did switch onto Dončić when Irving set ghost screens for his fellow star guard. This strategy kept Dončić out of the paint early, but the five-time First Team All-NBA selection did make them pay early with a 3-pointer to get on the scoreboard.

Offensively, Karl-Anthony Towns took four of the first seven Timberwolves shots, missing all four of them, which appeared to be pretty rushed and out of rhythm. But he kept at it, drawing a foul on Dereck Lively II on the rookie center’s first defensive possession, and then scoring an and-1 via a goaltend the next time down. KAT then picked up two fouls in four seconds, including an and-1 for Dončić, and exited.

But Towns’ teammates had his back. Naz Reid drained a 3-pointer 11 seconds after entering for the four-time All-Star, before Conley and Edwards added layups to match scores from the Mavs’ stars, capped off by an Ant block that led to a Rudy Gobert dunk inside off a seal, forcing a Jason Kidd timeout.

While Dončić was producing, he did not look right on the floor, walking up and down the court when he didn’t have the ball in his hands. But the Wolves didn’t target him in actions, as Jaden McDaniels took just one shot in the quarter after exploding for nine in the first quarter of Game 1. Dončić sat the final 3:25 of the quarter, during which Dallas scored just four points.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker played the last 5:26 of the opening frame after being the second sub in the game behind Reid. While NAW defended Irving in these minutes to help take some pressure off of Ant, he did not look confident in what he was doing offensively, passing up open layups multiple times, one for a turnover. How much he plays down the stretch of the series will be something to monitor if he continues to play without confidence offensively.

Minnesota led 32-26 after one quarter, outscoring Dallas 9-4 on the break and 9-2 at the free throw line. Edwards made five of those free throws, as he lived in the paint in the first 12 minutes — a great sign for his energy level and the Wolves offense.

Minnesota opened the second quarter with excellent ball movement and activity in their offense, resulting in five quick points from Reid in the corner and Towns inside. Conley was aggressive in hunting his shot, too, knocking down a pair of 3s off of pick-and-roll in the first 2:42.

Dallas, meanwhile, like they did in Game 1, struggled to create offensive rhythm in lineups with Dončić on the floor and Irving off. Luka made a step-back triple, his third of the game on four attempts, and leaned into Kyle Anderson to draw a pair of free throws. But they couldn’t keep pace with the Wolves, who scored a whopping 18 points on 7/10 shooting (five assisted) in the first four minutes of the quarter.

The Timberwolves won the non-Edwards minutes 18-9 to take control of the game with a 15-point lead. Slow-Mo played well offensively in his first stint, lasting about nine minutes bridging the first and second quarters. He scored five points on 2/4 shooting and dropped three dimes that created another eight points while he was on the floor. His effort was important in ensuring Minnesota remained productive without their star on the floor.

They followed that up with an excellent defensive stretch, swarming Dončić and Irving on the perimeter with multiple defenders and playing extremely physical defense in the paint on the Mavs’ “others.” The result was just five Dallas points over the next four minutes, with all of them coming at the free throw line. After shooting 63% in the paint in Game 1, the Mavericks sat at just 45.5% (10/22) with four minutes left in the first half.

Dončić was clearly frustrated, as he missed five of his first six two points shots — several of them the types of looks he made in Game 1. Whether he was laboring more so because he was missing shots or because his hurt knee and ankle were really bothering him we don’t know at this point, but he did not attack down hill with the same ferocity he did in Game 1.

But Luka dug deep down the stretch of the half, scoring or assisting on six points (all at the rim in transition) in 56 seconds of game time to cut the Wolves’ 18-point lead down to 12 at the half. Minnesota’s offense let them down big time, as they turned it over twice in the final three minutes and missed three 3-pointers that would’ve given them a 15-point lead at the break.

The Wolves led 60-48 as the teams went to the locker room.

Edwards paced Minnesota with 13 points (only 3/11 shooting but 5/6 free throws), while Conley and Reid each delivered 12 important points with Towns struggling to find a rhythm (nine points on 3/11 shooting). McDaniels went 0/4, but did play excellent defense on Dončić throughout the half, navigating screens, taking away passing angles and protecting the rim, too, with a pair of blocks.

Dončić was the only Maverick in double figures, as he scored 16 points on 5/14 shooting. Irving put up just five points on eight shots. Dallas continued their 3-point shooting struggles, as non-Luka players connected on only one of their eight attempts.

Things were much more even in the paint (28-26 Dallas) and on the offensive glass (8-7 Dallas on offensive rebounds and second chance points).

Both teams played with great energy on each end to start the second half, matching each other’s mini-runs. Minnesota got the lead out to 15 or more on three separate occasions, with Dallas cutting it to 12 each time. Towns finally made a triple and got to the line twice, while Conley continued his aggression offensively getting into the paint for floater looks, grabbing an offensive rebound off a missed free throw, and drawing a foul on a 3-point shot, which was Irving’s third foul.

The Mavs got it going on the roll, with Luka dragging the defense 35 feet away from the basket before hitting Gafford and Lively in the middle of the floor for a pair of dunks. The Slovenian star also got into the paint for a pair of scores himself, getting the better of McDaniels on one take, and finishing around Conley for another.

Dončić completely took over offensively, adding a tough step-back 3 and then snaking into the paint for a pair of scores. Minnesota’s offense didn’t help the matter, as Gobert took two wild attempts in the middle of the floor — a clear backslide when it comes to not valuing every possession. Dallas had the lead down to eight at that point.

A tough mid-range score from McDaniels and transition layup from Alexander-walker helped stem the tide, but the ball movement that injected kinetic energy into the Wolves’ half-court offense went away. Minnesota did a lot of catching the ball and holding before dribbling into crowds and either turning it over or missing tough looks. And, like he did in Game 1, NAW looked off Towns twice, on would-be wide open looks from 3 for KAT, to fire off a pair of 3s, both misses. While there is some value in “shooting out of a slump,” doing so in that fashion is not the best way to go about it.

But to NAW’s credit, he responded nicely by drawing a foul with the Timberwolves in the bonus and confidently drove left off pick-and-roll with Gobert to score four straight points. The problem was that Dallas matched those scores and kept their foot on the gas pedal, cutting it to two at one point on a 3-pointer from Jaden Hardy.

The Wolves from there closed the quarter on an 11-6 run, capped off by a huge, 28-foot bomb from Reid — his fifth 3-pointer of the game — to balloon a four-point lead into a seven-point advantage, 86-79, entering the final frame. Minnesota outside of Naz and Conley had shot 3/16 (18.8%) from 3. Edwards and Towns were both sitting on 15 points on 4/15 shooting through three quarters.

Excitement quickly turned to a palpably anxious energy, as Dallas started the fourth on an 8-0 run in just 56 seconds to take an 87-86 lead, with all eight points scored or assisted by Irving while Dončić rested. You could sense that Irving wanted to take full control of the game, and he did it, much like Luka did in Game 1. Edwards, meanwhile, began the fourth quarter on the floor after playing the entire third. Major advantage Dallas there.

They played to 91-90 Wolves at the 7:53 mark after a pair of free throws from Gobert. The Wolves coaching staff put out a lineup of Conley, McDaniels, Reid, Anderson and Gobert, while the Mavs had both of their stars on the floor — a nightmare situation. But Naz Reid makes dreams come true. He gave a second, third and fourth effort to knock away a lob, contest a P.J. Washington floater, and collect a rebound before knocking down a crucial 3-pointer on the other end to re-take a 94-92 lead, prompting a Mavericks timeout that bought the Wolves’ stars an extra three-and-a-half minutes to rest.

The coaching staff rode with that same lineup out of the break, a clear sign that Towns and Edwards were dead tired. Ant re-entered with the score tied at 96 with 5:31 left to play, while Towns remained on the bench. The two-time All-Star covered Irving and put together a few excellent reps defending Irving in the half-court.

His teammates turned up on the other end, as McDaniels threw a laser pass to Gobert on the roll for a nice dunk, and Conley got a floater to go. Edwards fit in between those scores a nice take going left, just his fourth 2-point make of the series to that point. But the separation couldn’t extend beyond three points, as Dallas continually found ways to score, whether it be off crazy 50-50 bounces finding players in scoring positions or drawing fouls.

Minnesota turned to the Conley/Gobert pick-and-roll to take them home in hopes of finding Edwards on the second side. They got a Conley score off a boomerang pass from Edwards, before Ant attacked in isolation, earning a pair of free throws to take a three-point lead after Derrick Jones Jr. and Irving missed a pair of wide open 3s to take the lead. Those proved to be awfully costly in the interim.

Irving then went bricken’ for chicken at the free throw line after jetting past the defense and drawing contact from Gobert. But he redeemed himself a possession later, drilling a clutch corner 3 after a two-handed rocket skip pass from a double-teamed Dončić above the break. That cut the Dallas deficit to two after Edwards again made a pair of free throws to go up five.

But Minnesota’s offense collapsed at the worst time, like it did in Game 1. Edwards made two poor decisions with the ball on two of the three final possessions, each leading to turnovers going the other way. Dončić made them pay with a nasty step-back 3-pointer with 3.0 seconds left. After draining the shot over Gobert, Dončić let his fellow European know about it, screaming at him for a good five seconds after the Wolves called timeout.

Finch said postgame that they didn’t think about doubling Dončić, instead wanted to switch and force Luka to shoot something other than a 3-pointer, which obviously did not happen. They didn’t switch ball screens involving Gobert all game, but decided to completely abandon their game plan in the series’ biggest moment.

Kidd delivered a dagger into Wolves fans’ hearts.

“We just switched on the pick-and-roll and I was on an iso on Luka and he hit a big-time shot. I let my team down on that last play,” Gobert said.

“They believed in me to get a stop and he scored. And he scored a 3, which is something that he does very well. So, I’m definitely taking that responsibility that I need to be better in that situation.”

Edwards was able to create an excellent look at a game-winner for Reid at the buzzer, but it rimmed out after looking good the whole way.

Minnesota allowed a 6-0 run to close the game after allowing a 10-3 run to finish out Game 1. They have been outscored 56-44 in the fourth quarter through two games.

Despite facing a 2-0 deficit, Edwards isn’t worried.

“Yeah, I mean, we was down 3-2. We was up 2-0, then they came and won two at the crib and then won one at they crib. So we’ve been here before. I don’t think anybody in the locker room is panicking. I hope not,” he said.

“Just come out and play our brand of basketball. We let ‘em make a run. We was supposed to go up big, but they made a run and cut it right before half. We made some mistakes, but we’ll be all right.”

Dončić was incredible for the Mavericks, recording a triple-double of 32 points (10/23 FG), 13 assists and 10 rebounds. Irving co-starred with 20 points and six assists, while Gafford and Lively scored 16 and 14, respectively.

Reid led the Wolves with 23 points on 7/9 shooting from deep, while Edwards scored 21 points on 5/17 shooting, but did record seven assists. Conley provided 18 in support to go along with five rebounds and five assists, and Gobert had a rock solid outing with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three stocks.

This story will be updated throughout the night after coach and player media availabilities.

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Key Takeaways

Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images

Timberwolves Stars Continue to Let Their Teammates Down

Through two games, the Wolves feasibly could not have asked for more from their ancillary scorers.

In Game 1, McDaniels, Anderson and Reid scored a combined 50 points on 19/32 (59.4%) and made 10 of Minnesota’s 18 3-pointers. Gobert adding 12 points became crucial as the game went on, too. But Edwards and Towns produced just 35 points on 12/36 shooting (33.3%).

In Game 2, they received 36 bench points — headlined by 23 points from Reid on 8/13 shooting — and an additional 34 points from Conley and Gobert. That’s 70 points from the non-stars, including nine of the team’s 12 3-pointers. Should be plenty, right? Nope. The two All-Stars mustered just one more point, this time scoring 36 points on 9/33 shooting (27.3%). Towns was benched for the final 8:40. Edwards’ mistakes led to turnovers on the two most important possessions of the game.

“I’m with winning, so whatever it takes to win. Naz has it going. Coach’s decision, I’m fully supportive of my coaching staff. Wouldn’t question them one bit,” Towns said about his benching.

“Of course I’m always going to be ready to play whenever he calls. Naz got it going, our team was playing well. Late in the game, we’re winning. You can’t ask for a better situation. We had a great player who hit a great shot and that’s just what it is.

The Timberwolves lost Games 1 and 2 by a combined four points, despite their stars playing as poorly as they can. The maddening part, though, is that it feels like the Mavericks’ perimeter role players have scored as inefficiently in these first two games as they will all series long. Not to mention that Irving was a non-factor for three quarters. Minnesota couldn’t capitalize on that — at home — because their two stars didn’t show up. Even if they play below average basketball, you could very well be looking at a 2-0 series the other way.

Ant and KAT have both played excellent basketball all season long — including in the playoffs — but are struggling offensively for opposite reasons. Edwards has been far too passive and is making decisions far too slowly, while Towns has pressed, speeding himself up in an evident manner.

“They’re just showing me crowds, man, sitting in the gaps. But I’m turning down a lot of shots, like my mid-ranges and stuff,” Edwards said postgame. “But we’re getting open looks, so I ain’t trippin.”

While neither were in panic mode in the postgame locker room (especially Edwards), they need to band together and find a way to dominate. Towns really needs to find a way to produce more, considering he is facing nowhere near the same defensive attention Edwards is. He did a tremendous job against Denver, and needs to replicate that moving forward, especially from beyond the arc over the top of a loaded up defense.

After Towns played two straight series of calm, composed basketball (thanks to which the Wolves are even here!) that seemingly exorcised his postseason demons, they have returned, haunting Wolves fans everywhere with the thought of a season crashing and burning. KAT has struggled at home all postseason, where he is averaging just 14.1 points per game on 35.6/30.3/90.0 shooting splits. But in order for him to get a chance to improve upon those disappointing numbers, he’ll have to continue his incredible road work; Towns’s averages skyrocket to 23.2 points per game on 57.4/48.4/76.2 shooting splits.

Minnesota needs that more than ever as the series heads to Dallas.

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Second Half Offense Continues to Struggle

The opening two games of the series have been a tail of two halves for the Wolves. Minnesota holds a +16.6 net rating in the first half and a -20.7 net rating in the second half, cratered by a 98.9 offensive rating.

What has to infuriate Timberwolves fans is that on one hand you have a team that scores 18 points in a four-minute span to open the second quarter, and on the other hand a team that scores just 22 points in the fourth quarter and almost turns it over more in one frame (4) than the other three combined (5).

Conley said he needs to take better control of things.

“I’m trying to get the ball and be in controlled situations, especially late. Get the guys the ball when they are in good spots to be aggressive. Naz, KAT, Ant, Rudy, Jaden, everybody. Trying to get guys where they can be super effective,” Conley said.

“Especially for Ant just trying to relieve him from a lot of the duties he has to do so much for us, he has to guard, he has to playmake he has to score. It’s my job to alleviate that pressure a little bit and I’m probably going to have to be more involved in that, be aggressive, be aggressive offensively it takes little pressure off of him and try to playmake for him as well.”

You could point to complacency as a potential factor, as maybe when they get up double digits the Wolves aren’t valuing each possession the way they should. But even when rubber met the road in crunch time over the final three possessions, Minnesota turned it over twice. While it’s hard to point to one specific thing without rewatching the film, there are a few common culprits.

First, the Timberwolves’ ball movement and decision-making has slowed to a near halt in second halves. They’ve played down to the shot clock buzzer too many times, either by dribbling the air out of the basketball or holding it like their lives depend on it. Either way, the defense isn’t moving and you’re not creating any sort of advantage. That’s become problematic more so in the clutch, where they have five turnovers in the final two minutes of Games 1 and 2.

“Two turnovers again, ball got static. That’s on me in the sense that I should have called a timeout to get Mike back in the game on that second to last possession for us, or whatever. So I’ll take that one, it’s on me,” Finch said postgame.

“But yeah, ball got static and turned it over. Same story as the other night, turnovers in the guts of the game, not gonna get it done.”

Despite that, they have still shot 26 second-half free throws, most of any team in the Conference Finals. Minnesota shot 26/32 (81.3%) on freebies in Game 2, while Dallas made just 15/22 (68.2%).

The other is 3-point shooting. Minnesota is actually creating pretty good looks from beyond the arc, yet connecting at a measly 28.9% clip on 38 attempts. The 12/31 (38.7%) looks good over the whole game, but the Wolves have to find a way to knock down the opportunities they do create for themselves. The weight of each look builds as Dallas continues to claw back into games.

“They hit some shots. We couldn’t make shots to keep them away. Did a good job of building the lead and once they started hitting some shots to stop the bleeding, you gotta hit some shots. Had some in and outs, had some unfortunate bounces,” Towns said postgame.

“And also turnovers are killing us. It’s frustrating. Things that we could control from the turnover aspect, defensive aspect, we just didn’t do enough of that today.”

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Rotation

Up Next

The Timberwolves and Mavericks will travel to Dallas on Saturday afternoon ahead of Sunday night’s Game 3 at American Airlines Center, where Minnesota will look to climb out of a 2-0 hole. Fans can watch the 7 PM CT tip on TNT.

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Highlights