“We just wanted to get one game and extend the series,” he said.
“I’ve never been swept in my career. I didn’t want to get swept. Not on their home court, hearing their fans talk trash all day.”
Luka Doncic posted a 28-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist triple-double for the fifth-seeded Mavericks, who won the first two games of the series in a previous trip to Minneapolis.
After Minnesota led by 12 early on, the teams battled on even terms for the first 18-plus minutes of the second half, with Towns’s 3-pointer with 5:41 remaining giving the Timberwolves a 92-90 lead.
The visitors never trailed again, thanks in large part to Towns, whose 3-pointer on Minnesota’s next possession made it a five-point game.
Anthony Edwards drops a near-triple-double as the @Timberwolves force Game 5 in the Western Conference Finals!
Karl-Anthony Towns: 25 PTS (9-13 FGM), 5 REB, 4 3PMMike Conley: 14 PTS, 7 AST, 4 STLLuka Doncic: 28 PTS, 15 REB, 10 AST
Game 5: Thursday (5/30), 8:30pm/et, TNT pic.twitter.com/JFsaG1xWHM
— NBA (@NBA) May 29, 2024
Dallas’s best chance to draw even down the stretch came when Doncic misfired on a 3-pointer with the hosts trailing 95-92 with 3:18 to go.
When Towns connected again from beyond the arc with 2:54 to go, and Edwards followed with a bank shot in the lane 67 seconds later, the Timberwolves had broken things open at 100-92.
“That was on me,” Doncic said. “[I] didn’t give enough energy.”
A desperate 3-pointer by Doncic as he was being fouled with 13.2 seconds left kept the Mavericks alive at 103-100, but Doncic missed the subsequent free throw.
After a timeout, Naz Reid got behind the Dallas defence for a game-clinching layup with 11.3 seconds remaining.
“We’d never lost three in a row until earlier in the playoffs. We’ve never lost four in a row,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said.
“The guys responded. Fun team to coach because they always believe they can win, no matter what.”
The Timberwolves had been outscored 10-3, 6-0 and 14-3, respectively, at the end of the first three games en route to three-, one- and nine-point losses.
They are now 3-0 in potential elimination games this postseason.
Things were tied at 49 at the break, with Edwards and Doncic each leading their respective teams with 17 points. Minnesota were up 78-73 heading into the fourth quarter.
“They won one game,” Doncic said. “We’ve got to focus on the next one.”
