A winning shot from Luka Doncic allowed Dallas to win 108-109 on the Minnesota floor on Friday. The Mavericks now lead 2-0 in the Western Conference final of the NBA basketball championship before the next two meetings which will be played in Texas. The first is played on Sunday. The team that wins four games qualifies for the final against the winner of the Eastern Conference where Boston leads 2-0 against Indiana.
Dallas won twice on the Wolves floor in three days to ideally kick off its conference final.
After a close first match, the Mavericks were this time able to come back from 18 points behind during the second quarter, then a small gap of five points with just over a minute to go.
A long-range shot from Luka Doncic, author of his 5th triple double in these playoffs (32 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds) finished off the Wolves 3.1 seconds from time. The Slovenian was able to get past the defense of French pivot Rudy Gobert, the best defender of the season, to score a decisive basket before Naz Reid missed the winning shot for Minnesota.
Besides Doncic, the Mavs were able to rely on Kyrie Irving (20 points), slowed down by his personal fouls on Friday, and Daniel Gafford (16 points and 5 blocks). Dallas once again won the battle under the rings (44 rebounds to 40 and above all 54 points to 42 in the paint).
On the Timberwolves side, Anthony Edwards scored 21 points, took five rebounds and distributed seven assists, but was still clumsy shooting 5 of 17. Mike Conley scored 18 points, and French pivot Rudy Gobert 16 points with 10 rebounds, in addition to 15 points from Karl-Anthony Towns.
2024-05-25 07:02:40
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