A fast-finishing Dallas have set down an early mark in the Western Conference finals with a three-point win over Minnesota.
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Luka Doncic had 15 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Mavericks to a 108-105 victory over the Timberwolves on Wednesday night.
Kyrie Irving scored 24 of his 30 in the first half for the Mavericks, who trailed 102-98 after a 3-pointer by Anthony Edwards with 3:37 left, before an 8-0 run the Wolves didn't stop until a tip-in with 10.5 seconds to go.
Jaden McDaniels had his third straight 20-plus-point game with 24 points for the Wolves, but Edwards, who earned his first All-NBA selection prior to the game on the second team, was stifled for 19 points in a team effort from the Mavericks.
Karl-Anthony Towns needed a late burst to get to 16 points and finished six for 20 from the floor.
The star power in this series is strong, and for the first night at least the Mavericks got what they needed from their leading duo while the Wolves largely struggled to run the offense around theirs.
Dallas had a 62-38 advantage in points in the paint to offset a 6-for-25 shooting performance from deep.
"Terrible offense down the stretch: bad shots, turnovers, no composure," Wolves coach Chris Finch said. "We've got to be better in clutch moments."
Towns came to life with a long jumper, a lob to Rudy Gobert for a slam and a 3-pointer on a two-minute burst to give the Wolves the lead back with 4:39 to go on the way to a 10-0 run that Doncic ended with a 3-pointer.
P.J. Washington, who had 13 points and seven rebounds, hit from deep to put the Mavericks back in front with 1:56 to go.
Towns thought he tied the game with a putback dunk on the next possession, but that was waved off for basket interference.
Edwards, who went scoreless in the third quarter, added 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Australian Josh Green had 13 minutes of game time for his three points and one rebound, while compatriot Dante Exum played just three minutes for Dallas.
Neither team led by more than nine. Minnesota hosts Game 2 on Friday night.
Doncic was relatively quiet until he scored seven straight points over 63 seconds early in the fourth quarter, and the Mavericks stretched that to a 13-0 run for a 97-89 lead that Edwards finally ended with a 3-pointer after another helter-skelter possession.
The Wolves had two days off after dethroning defending champions Denver with a Game 7 comeback from a 20-point deficit to win the second-round series, and the transition was sharp from the Nuggets and NBA MVP Nikola Jokic's deliberate and powerful style to the pick-and-roll-heavy Mavericks.
The Wolves frequently lost their opponents off screens for wide-open dunks, and the Mavericks moved with a purpose that kept the Wolves from consistently setting their half-court defence around the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Gobert at the rim.
Irving's stunning burst on the break and on the drive presented a unique challenge the Wolves and their league-leading defence didn't face in the last round, when they held the Nuggets to an average of 85 points over their four wins.
"He got us going. Without him, we would probably be down 20 at half-time," Doncic said. "I had to help him in the second half a little bit. So we switched roles this time."
Australian Associated Press
