Kyrie Irving leads Mavericks over Timberwolves in WCF Rematch, 120-114

The Dallas Mavericks traveled north to play the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of a back-to-back. It’s the first rematch of last year’s Western Conference finals, and the Wolves wanted to make up for last season’s disappointment.

Both teams started their usual lineups, with Dallas rolling with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford, and the Timberwolves going with Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert. Their addition of Randle came right before the season started, so they’re still working out the kinks there.

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Anthony Edwards started the game with a stop on Irving that atoned for his call on Irving before last year’s series, then finished with a smart layup at the basket on the other end. Dallas’ next eight points came in the paint, unafraid of Gobert’s presence. Edwards had 10 of Minnesota’s first 12 points to give them a 12-11 lead, but Dallas immediately answered with a Gafford leak-out dunk.

The next few minutes were back and forth. Randle hit a three to put the TWolves ahead and then Luka Doncic answered with a finish through contact (no foul) to tie it, Jaden McDaniels answered with an easy two and then Doncic got the layup and one on the other. end to send the game to its first timeout.

Jason Kidd was forced to take a timeout after Anthony Edwards hit his fourth three-pointer of the quarter to give him 17 of Minnesota’s first 27 points. He was already 6/8 off the floor and absolutely felt it. This warm-up continued only after the timeout, when he had scored a total of 24 points in the opening frame to give the Wolves a 34-26 lead heading into the second. Dallas hung around for most of the quarter, but collapsed in the final minutes.

Minnesota would open a 10-point lead to start the second quarter after Daniel Gafford left the game with an apparent lower leg injury (he would return later) and Dallas suffered a rare stretch of consistent turnovers. However, a PJ Washington transition layup and Kyrie Irving three would quickly bring the game back to five points. At this point, Minnesota had made ten three-pointers to Dallas’ three, but the game was still within striking distance.

Dallas would take the lead with just over 4:30 left in the period on a transition three from PJ Washington and then Luka Doncic lobbing it up for Dereck Lively II. A Klay Thompson technical free throw and three-pointer pushed the Mavs’ lead up to five to give them their largest lead to this point. A few baskets later, Randle regained the lead for Minnesota before Washington answered with a three at the other end.

Luka Doncic would go to the locker room a few minutes before halftime after an apparent lower leg injury, but the Mavs were able to hold on to a 61-59 lead heading into halftime. He led the team with 13 points, but Washington, Gafford and Irving all also scored in double figures. After 24 points in the first quarter, Edwards was held scoreless in the second quarter, attempting only one shot.

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Doncic came out of the locker room to start the second half, but Minnesota scored the first ten points to take a 69-61 lead before Coach Kidd called timeout. But a pair of threes by PJ Washington and Kyrie Irving, then an Irving layup cut the lead back to two. Irving pushed them back in front with a step-in three.

Minnesota went ice cold in the middle part of the period with a 1/8 stretch, allowing Dallas to go up seven after Quentin Grimes’ second three-pointer of the night. He had hit another three on Minnesota free throws to give the Mavs their biggest lead of the night – eight. Another three from Kyrie Irving pushed the lead even further to 11. Heading into the 4th, Dallas had taken a commanding 93-82 lead.

Naz Reid and Luka Doncic traded buckets to start the fourth quarter. Minnesota started to take the lead with Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jaden McDaniels hitting threes to cut the lead to five, but Kyrie Irving did a great job of keeping the offense flowing.

With five minutes left, Dallas led by five. Alexander-Walker hit a running bank shot to cut the lead to three, but was answered by Irving with a tough layup at the other end. McDaniels broke free for a wide-open layup, forcing the Mavs into a timeout with four minutes left. After the timeout, they turned Washington loose for a wide-open lob, and Minnesota took a timeout shortly after that to take the lead into the final three minutes of the game.

Rudy Gobert cut the lead to two with free throws, but Kyrie Irving felt it and hit a three over Randle late in the clock to push the lead back to five. A few possessions later, the refs missed PJ Washington stepping out of bounds on an offensive rebound, which led to Luka Doncic hitting a BOMB from ten feet behind the three-point line to push the lead back to eight with just over a minute left. back. It was his first and only made three of the night.

Anthony Edwards hit a big three to cut the lead to four in the final 30 seconds and Kyrie Irving missed both free throws to make the game interesting, but Naji Marshall picked Edwards’ pocket and hit both free throws at the other end to push the lead back to six with 12.6 seconds left. That would be enough for Dallas to win 120-114 and move to 3-1 on the season.

Three-point defense and free-throw line rebounding were the biggest concerns for Dallas from this game. Minnesota was red-hot from deep all game, finishing 19/39 from behind the arc, and the Mavs gave up at least three offensive rebounds off missed free throws, and that almost always leads to points.

The biggest difference in the game was turnovers, as Minnesota turned it over 20 times to Dallas’ 9. In the second half alone, it was 10-1, Dallas’ advantage.

Kyrie Irving led the Mavericks with 35 points, and after struggling in the first half, Doncic rebounded a bit to finish with 24 points and added eight rebounds and nine assists. PJ Washington (17 points, eight rebounds) and Daniel Gafford (14 points) also finished in double figures, with Dereck Lively II adding nine rebounds and three steals.

Minnesota was led by Anthony Edwards’ 37 points, which cooled off after its fiery opening quarter. The Timberwolves had four other players score in double figures to help him as well: Julius Randle (20 points), Naz Reid (14), Jaden McDaniels (13) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (11).

The Mavericks return home to play the Rockets on Thursday night.

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