The enfant terrible duo has struck again. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving each scored 33 points last night with Dallas against Minnesota, leading the Mavericks to a third victory in the Western Conference finals against the Timberwolves (116-107). They now lead 3-0 and never has a team managed to overcome such a handicap in the history of the NBA play-offs.
The Mavericks are heading straight to the NBA Finals for the first time since their last title in 2011, where they risk meeting the Boston Celtics, who also lead 3-0 in their series against the Indiana Pacers.
As since the start of these conference finals, Doncic and Irving take their team’s play into their own hands, and always finish their meetings very strong. “I hear that this is perhaps the best back duo in NBA history,” notes their coach Jason Kidd. They always make the right choices. When they have the ball in their hands, they are able to find their teammates through passes but also take shots when needed. It’s very valuable. »
“Kyrie, it’s Mr. 4th Quarter”
At the end of the match, while the two teams were still neck and neck, the two Mavericks backs each in turn made decisive baskets which gave their team a definitive advantage. “They (the Timberwolves) tried to defend with two on me and Kyrie the whole match, but we know how to adapt,” Doncic analyzes after the match. We are all capable of scoring points in this team, we all have confidence in each other. But Kyrie is incredible. It’s Mr. 4th quarter. He always performs well in important moments. He was born for this kind of situation. »
To try to turn this series to their advantage, Minnesota showed more aggressiveness towards Dallas. The quarrel between Luka Doncic and Rudy Gobert, born two days earlier during match 2 of these conference finals, continued last night, the French pivot of the Wolves toughening the game a little against the Slovenian. Wasted effort: Doncic scored 8 of his 10 free throws and never seemed impressed by the physical challenge imposed by the Wolves.
A Dallas player, on the other hand, suffered in the face of this extraordinary commitment from Minnesota: rookie Derek Lively was involuntarily hit in the head by Karl-Anthony Towns’ knee and had to leave the floor groggily in the first half. time. His team announced that he suffered from a sprained neck and it is unlikely that he will be present during Game 4, this Tuesday evening still in Texas.
Can Minnesota do it? Are the Timberwolves capable of achieving what no team has ever achieved in the history of the play-offs, winning four games in a row after losing the first three? “If there is a team that can do it, it’s us,” said Naz Reid. “Of course they can,” Doncic said. We must think we’re 0-0, because they won’t give up. »
“One victory at a time, that’s what we have to try to do now,” says Anthony Edwards, who announced the morning of the match, after training, that he was going to shoot like never before. He tried to keep his promise: he finished with 24 points (45% success) and above all scored an impressive dunk, where he took off as he knows how to do so well. Not enough, however, to counterbalance the rather lackluster record of his teammates. Towns finished with 14 points (and 11 rebounds), and Gobert with 9 points (and 6 rebounds).
Everything is close to collapsing for Minnesota, which seemed equipped to fight for the title this year but is very close to elimination. Not enough to make Anthony Edwards lose his smile, who went through painful periods in his life, including the death of his mother and grandmother as a teenager, and who has since decided to no longer expect anything from life : “I’m always positive, happy,” he says. Life has been hard enough on me that the sky can’t fall on my head. » The danger, this time, does not come from the sky, but from the address of a duo of enfant terribles who are now causing the NBA to collapse.
