Wednesday night in Minneapolis, Game 1 of the Western Conference finals saw the Dallas Mavericks defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 108-105 behind 33 points from Luka Doncic, including 15 in the fourth quarter.
For Dallas, Kyrie Irving scored an additional 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting. Dereck Lively II (nine points, eleven rebounds) and Daniel Gafford (10 points, nine rebounds) both came just short of recording double-doubles.
Leading the Timberwolves with 24 points, Jaden McDaniels nailed 6 of 9 shots from beyond the arc. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 16 points, while Anthony Edwards finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.
In the fourth quarter, the Mavericks outscored Minnesota 26–22, which helped them win by three points.
With 7:38 remaining, Dallas embarked on a 13-0 run to take a 97-89 lead. Doncic scored seven points in a row to open the run, and he added two free throws to end it.
With 4:39 remaining, Minnesota grabbed a 99-98 lead with a 10-1 run in response. Towns gave the Timberwolves the lead with a 3-pointer from 28 feet.
With 3:37 remaining, Edwards extended Minnesota’s advantage to 102-98 with a 3-pointer following a timeout.
With 1:56 remaining, the Mavericks responded with consecutive 3-pointers from P.J. Washington and Doncic, putting them ahead 104-102. With 49.2 seconds remaining, Doncic made a step-back jump shot to make the score 106-102.
For the remainder of the game, Dallas held the advantage.
As the third quarter came to a close, the Timberwolves had an 83-82 lead.
Gafford scored the first two points of the Mavericks’ second-half run with two alley-oop dunks. A few minutes later, Derrick Jones Jr. scored a slam to give Dallas its first lead since the first quarter, putting the team ahead 67-66.
Minnesota was ahead 62–59 at the break. Before the half, McDaniels had 19 points, his highest scoring total in any half of the playoffs.
Irving, who scored 24 points in the first half, scored five points in the final 22 seconds to cut Dallas’ lead to three points from the Timberwolves’ eight-point lead in the closing minute of the first half.
With 0.7 seconds remaining, he converted a three-point play into a score and a free throw to seal the victory.