The Dallas Mavericks were unable to get the sweep over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals. Game 4 was a tough shooting night for their stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, leading to a 105-100 loss in Dallas.
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving shot a combined 13-of-38 from the field and 5-of-17 from 3-point range. Back to Minnesota for Game 5, they were able to get on track and lead the team to a blowout victory.
The Mavericks defeated the Timberwolves 124-103, advancing to the NBA Finals. There the Boston Celtics await, as they swept their series against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Leading the way early on for Dallas was Luka Doncic. He set the tone early, outsourcing the Timberwolves by himself in the first quarter. Scorching hot out of the gate, he scored 20 compared to the 19 Minnesota had.
“It was Luka magic mode,” head coach Jason Kidd said. “He set the tone, and then he made it easier for everyone else. Everybody else stepped up.”
In the first 153 seconds of the game Doncic, who took home the Western Conference Finals MVP award, scored 10 points to get his team going. A courtside fan got him going early on and he used it as motivation to bury the Timberwolves.
“You know that gets me going,” said Doncic. “Everybody knows that by now.”
Doncic finished the game with 36 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals. Just as the case has been all series, the Timberwolves just had no answer for him. While he was dominant early on, Kyrie Irving took the reins from the second quarter on.
After a slow start, allowing Luka Doncic to do his thing, Irving got going. He scored 15 of his 36 points in the second quarter, further sapping the energy out of the home crowd that watched their team get steamrolled.
Doing this against the No. 1 defense in the NBA this season makes it all the more impressive. The superstar duo combined for 44 points in the first half, while the Timberwolves had only 40.
That contributed to a 29-point halftime lead, the largest in NBA history for a team that had a chance to clinch a trip to the NBA Finals. The Timberwolves have also never faced a larger halftime deficit in the history of their franchise in the postseason.
The Mavericks will now have a few days off until the NBA Finals get underway on June 6th. It will be an emotional series with plenty of storylines as multiple players will be facing off against former teams in the matchup.
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