MINNEAPOLIS — Luka Doncic hit a stunning three-pointer over Rudy Gobert three seconds before the game ended and the Dallas Mavericks rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-108 in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals at Target Center on Friday night.
With this win, the Mavs managed to win both games in this series and now they lead this best-of-seven series 2-0. In NBA history, teams that win the first two games of a best-of-seven series go on to win that series 92.5 percent of the time.
The series now heads to Dallas for the next two games, where the Mavs can close it out and reach the NBA Finals for the third time in franchise history. Game 3 is Sunday at 7 p.m. and Game 4 is Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
With the Mavs trailing 108-106, Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards pawned the ball with 12.8 seconds remaining, setting the stage for a heroic moment for Doncic.
“When we gave Luka the ball we wanted to give him space and let him do what he does,” coach Jason Kidd said. “With him attacking the paint so frequently, Rudy has to respect that.
“The purpose of the game was to give Luka the ball and let Luka do what Luka does in those moments. We talked about taking two points because we were only two points behind. But when he started dancing with Gobert, you could see that step-back (three-pointer) was coming and the rest is history.”
Dončić had his fourth triple-double in the last five games, finishing with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Regarding his game-winner, Dončić said:
“I just saw some space and decided to hit three shots. At one point we were down 18, so it was crazy to come back from that.”
The Timberwolves had one last chance to win, and they put the ball in the hands of the player who performed best for them on Friday. However, Naz Reid’s three-pointer at the buzzer missed, and the Mavs jumped for joy knowing they were just two wins away from reaching the NBA Finals.
In addition to Dončić, the Mavs got 20 points and six assists from Kyrie Irving, 16 points, five rebounds and five blocks from Daniel Gafford, 14 points and nine rebounds from Derek Lively II, and 10 points and five boards from P.J. Washington.
Reed, who made 7-of-9 three-pointers, led Minnesota with 23 points, and Edwards had 21 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Also for the Timberwolves, Mike Conley finished with 18 points, five rebounds and five assists, Gobert scored 16 points and 10 boards, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 15 points and seven rebounds.
Minnesota took a 58-40 lead with less than four minutes left in the first half, but two dunks from Lively, a hoop from Doncic and another basket from Josh Green cut the gap to 60-48 by halftime.
Edwards (13 points), Conley (12 points) and Reed (12 points) contributed the bulk of Minnesota’s scoring in the opening half, while Doncic had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists in the opening half. Irving, who scored 13 of his 30 points in the first half of Game 1, finished the first half with just five points on 2-of-8 shots.
Reed came off the bench to provide Minnesota with some ammunition, with four three-pointers on four attempts. His 12 points in 11 minutes helped the Timberwolves take a 48-33 lead with 8:43 minutes remaining in the first half. Shortly after, a bucket by Edwards pushed Minnesota’s lead to 55-37 and completed a 32-15 run by the Timberwolves.
Minnesota took a 9-4 lead in the first quarter and a 32-26 lead in the second quarter. Doncic scored 10 points in the first quarter, but Edwards also scored 10 of his points, half of which came from the free throw line.
The Timberwolves got good mileage from the charity stripe, as they went 9 of 11 on free throws in the first quarter, compared to just 1 of 3 for the Mavs.
The game was nearing a close call, with Irving missing two free throws with 1:44 remaining in the game that would have put the Mavs one point behind Minnesota. Edwards then hit two charity tosses to give the Timberwolves a 108-103 lead with 1:29 remaining in the game.
But Irving hit a cold-blooded three-pointer with 1:05 remaining to put Dallas within 108-106 of Minnesota. And shortly after that, Edwards made the crucial turnover that led to Doncic making the game-winning three-pointer.
“Luka is special,” Kidd said. “And he loves moments like this.”
X: @dwayneprice
