By Tim Cato, Zach Harper and Hunter Patterson
Behind Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Cities, the Minnesota Timberwolves salvaged their season with a 105-100 Recreation 4 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.
Edwards practically had a triple-double, main the Timberwolves with a game-high 29 factors, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Cities topped the 20-point mark for the primary time this sequence, including 25 factors and 5 boards earlier than fouling out late within the fourth quarter.
Luka Dončić posted his sixth triple-double of this postseason within the loss, with 28 factors, 15 rebounds and 10 rebounds. Kyrie Irving fell to 14-1 in closeout video games, scoring simply 16 factors and dispensing 4 assists on 6-of-18 taking pictures.
BIG TIME BUCKET. pic.twitter.com/QzCjNGsItj
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) Could 29, 2024
Recreation 5 can be Thursday in Minnesota because the Timberwolves look to increase their season as soon as once more.
Timberwolves lastly defend lead
The definition of madness is doing the identical factor again and again whereas anticipating a unique end result. So naturally, the Wolves discovered themselves in a one-possession recreation towards the Mavericks with Minnesota’s season on the road.
This time, nonetheless, the Wolves did one thing fairly unfathomable compared to the opposite video games of this sequence. They protected a lead within the closing minutes and matched Dallas point-for-point within the clutch.
Minnesota held a five-point recreation with 5 minutes left. A number of instances, the Mavericks knocked it right down to a one-possession recreation, however the Wolves attacked intelligently on this one. Edwards made nice selections on offense, establishing Cities for an enormous 3-pointer.
He hit his personal pivoting whirlwind of strikes within the paint to knock down a brief shot. He pulled up for a protracted 2-point jumper to maintain the Mavs at bay. And the Wolves might have held their lead along with band-aids and thread, but it surely held collectively nonetheless.
This was the Edwards we’ve been ready to see within the clutch. Intentional. Calm. Cool. Collected (exterior of fouling Luka on a 3-pointer whereas up six).
Whereas he nonetheless works on convincing the refs to provide him the star calls, he closed just like the star participant he’s and the one he’s projected to grow to be. Now, can they do it once more in Recreation 5? Or higher but … keep away from a clutch recreation altogether with an enormous win? Sounds insane. — Zach Harper, NBA employees author
Mavericks miss Full of life
Dereck Full of life II, at the same time as a 20-year-old rookie, is the Mavericks’ third-most necessary participant. (I’m comfy saying that definitively even when there are cheap arguments others may make for the staff’s beginning wings.)
With the teenager carrying road garments on the staff’s bench after a brutal head collision in Recreation 3, Dallas’ closeout effort in Recreation 4 was at all times going to require different gamers stepping up from sudden locations.
Maxi Kleber, cleared to play for the primary time since struggling a shoulder damage within the closing recreation of the primary spherical, was the primary one. With a backup middle void needing to be crammed, Kleber stepped in quietly however capably.
The Mavericks wanted a participant with extra dimension than Dwight Powell who may very well be trusted to correctly make rotations, which Kleber did.
There have been bench guards who stepped up, too. Jaden Hardy, a second-year guard who hadn’t been within the staff’s rotation till Recreation 5 of the Western Convention semifinals, contributed 13 factors off the bench. Dante Exum scored 5 extra in a four-minute stint, his first factors within the sequence.
These had been the kind of contributions Dallas wanted to make up for Full of life’s essential absence — if, alongside it, the Mavericks obtained the kind of luxurious shotmaking from their famous person duo they’ve come to anticipate all through this sequence.
Heading into the fourth quarter down 5, it positive felt like that acquainted system was able to be repeated.
Dončić and Irving weren’t as sensible as they’d been all sequence, combining to shoot 13-of-40 from the sphere. Dončić briefly restored that potential feeling of magic, nailing a 30-foot jumper with a foul with 13 seconds remaining.
Typical of the duo’s evening, nonetheless, Dončić missed the free throw that might’ve lower the result in two.
Dallas now heads again to Minnesota with an atypical probability to shut out this sequence in a gentleman’s sweep in a street enviornment. Dallas can win with out Full of life, however his return would certainly make it simpler. — Tim Cato, Mavericks beat author
Required studying
(Picture: Matthew Stockman / Getty Pictures)