The Minnesota Timberwolves have forced a Game 5 against the Dallas Mavericks, winning Game 4 105-100 on the road and holding on to hope of making the NBA Finals.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Timberwolves held the lead with under five minutes to go in all of Games 1-3, but lost all three contests. Tonight, Karl Anthony-Towns, who fouled out with 1:38 to go and the Wolves up five, finally found his groove to lead the Timberwolves to victory. Towns scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half, going 4-of-5 from deep, and changing momentum for Minnesota by hitting two straight 3s to put the Wolves up five with five minutes to go.
Anthony Edwards, who ended with 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, sealed the deal for Minnesota, hitting the dagger with 39 seconds left.
ANT-MAN. CLUTCH.
Timberwolves go back up 5 with 38.8 seconds to play as they look to force Game 5.
???? TNT pic.twitter.com/pHg1foj8cW
— NBA (@NBA) May 29, 2024
This was the Timberwolves’ first Western Conference finals win in 20 years. They shot 39-of-74 (52.7%) from the floor and 11-of-24 (45.8%) from deep, but were 16-of-25 (64%) from the free-throw line.
For the Mavericks, Luka Doncic recorded his ninth playoff triple -double with 28 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. However, he only shot 7-of-21 from the field, while Kyrie Irving had 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting. As a team, Dallas shot 34-of-81 (42%) and 14-of-40 (35%) from 3.
The Mavericks weren’t able to pull off the victory despite going 18-of-21 (85.7%) from the line compared to Minnesota’s struggles, winning the points off turnovers 30-15 and the Wolves facing constant foul trouble.
Game Flow
The Wolves led 27-20 at the end of the first quarter and were up by as many as 12. Edwards led the charge with 14 points. Minnesota shot 63% (10-of-16) in the first quarter compared to just 29% (6-of-21) for Dallas.
However, Edwards, Towns and Rudy Gobert all picked up their third fouls midway through the second quarter and the Mavericks turned nine Minnesota turnovers into 20 points in the first half to tie the game at 49 heading into the break. Doncic and Edwards led all scorers with 17 apiece at halftime.
Wolves had a 12-point lead early in Game 4.
Mavs tied it by halftime ???? pic.twitter.com/fnKneqXr73
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 29, 2024
In the third quarter, the game remained close, despite Edwards and Gobert both having four fouls with just over two minutes left, while Towns had five midway through the period. Edwards led Minnesota to a 78-73 advantage heading into the fourth, as he topped all scorers with 23 points to go along with six assists and five rebounds. For Dallas, Doncic had a double-double already with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Ant hits the middy to close out the 3rd… he's got 23 as the Timberwolves looks to avoid elimination on TNT! pic.twitter.com/tTkvAtFz6V
— NBA (@NBA) May 29, 2024
In the fourth, the Timberwolves held the lead for the last five minutes despite Dallas cutting the lead to only three with a minute left. Edwards then put the Wolves up five with his clutch mid-range shot with 39 seconds remaining. Doncic hit an and-one 3-pointer with 13 seconds to go, but missed the free throw, and Minnesota went back up five the next possession.
The teams will head back to Minnesota for Game 5 on Thursday (May 30) at 5:30 p.m. MST. Minnesota looks to be the first team to come back from 3-0.
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
