The Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off a stellar win to keep themselves in the Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Led by Anthony Edwards‘ 29-point performance, the Wolves secured a 105-100 win, which makes the series 3-1 heading into Game 5. The 22-year-old made some clutch shots to keep his team in the series. Karl-Anthony Towns, who has struggled to perform, scored 25 points and made a few important three-pointers to put the pressure on the Mavericks.
Chris Finch and his men knew that playing on the road facing elimination would always be difficult. But they showed great resilience during the game and took control down the stretch to keep their hopes alive. Minnesota gave up a lot of turnovers for which they were punished by Dallas as they hurt them by scoring 30 points off turnovers on the night. However, the T-Wolves made up for that by forcing the Mavs to miss a few shots in the fourth quarter, leading to them taking the victory.
Luka Doncic again put up great numbers as he scored a 29-point triple-double. The Slovenian had struggled shooting the ball as he went 7-21 from the field. But he hurt the T-Wolves from the free throw line where he shot 10-12 to keep the Mavs in the game. Kyrie Irving was not able to continue his exploits from Game 3 as he added only 16 points on 6-18 shooting from the field. The otherwise Mr. Reliable in the clutch was not able to take over in the fourth quarter as his shots kept rimming out, leading to the game eventually slipping out for the Mavs. The team will now attempt to make their trip to the NBA Finals official in Game 5, which will be held at Target Center in Minneapolis.
Minnesota Timberwolves have struggled to perform at home
While the Minnesota Timberwolves’ performance in the playoffs has been admirable, their fans have not seen the best of that in their homecourt. The team have a 3-4 record at home, which is worrying because they were brilliant in the regular season at the Target Center. With their series against the Mavs heading home, the T-Wolves will have to find a way to improve their record otherwise their hopes of making the NBA Finals are going to be shattered.
Their stellar performance in the playoffs has been courtesy of their defensive brilliance. The Mavs have put that out of the equation with their progressive offensive schemes. Rudy Gobert, who just weeks ago received the Defensive Player of the Year award has been targeted on isos by the Mavs. The French center has had a tough time trying to guard the Mavs guards on mismatches. He will have to find a way to be effective on the defensive end as that is the only way the T-Wolves can pull off this herculean task of winning three more games in the series.
