Wolves 105, Mavs 100: Towns’ 20-Point Second Half Extends Minnesota’s Season

The Minnesota Timberwolves found themselves in a familiar position entering Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals: facing elimination, looking to avoid losing a fourth straight game for the first time all season.

After Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and the Wolves dropped their third straight game to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night, they began to face the potential of a grim reality. A 4-0 series loss would be crushing.

Kyrie Irving (who is 14-0 all-time in potential close-out games) and Luka Dončić (who is 4-0 in his last four after starting his career 0-2) bringing out the brooms and ferociously sweeping the Wolves out of the playoffs would end their historic season in such a way that could make it difficult for some to remember all the memories, milestones, Ant quarter takeovers, Naz Reid games, Towns 3-pointers, Rudy Gobert defensive masterclasses, Mike Conley clutch shots, Nickeil Alexander-Walker defensive efforts, stars getting their nights ruined by Jaden McDaniels, Kyle Anderson slow-motion buckets, quintessential Jordan McLaughlin sequences and everything in between, until the dust settles.

The Wolves had an opportunity to put that to the side for another game as they look to take their first step in rewriting history. NBA teams down 3-0 are 0-154 in those series. Only 15 have forced a Game 6, while just four have extended a series to seven games. For Minnesota, all they could do was focus on putting forth their best effort in Game 4.

In addition to a big number 8 drawn out, was one thing on the locker room white board:

1 IN A ROW!!!

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The Timberwolves weren’t scared of making more adjustments once the game tipped. Edwards opened the game on Dončić, shifting McDaniels onto Irving and Conley onto Derrick Jones Jr. It worked to an extent, as the Mavericks opened 2/5 from the floor and turned it over twice. But Edwards picked up his first foul less than three minutes into the game both stars were on the board within the first 2:07 of play. Dončić

Wolves Head Coach Chris Finch spoke pregame about some of the indecision that has caused the team’s struggles on both ends of the floor, especially Edwards.

“They’re definitely showing a lot of bodies to Anthony. That’s just given him enough pause. Then he gets into overthink mode,” Finch said.

“My thing to him is just (be) like a tailback. You gotta hit the hole harder and quicker. Just get through the hole, and once you get to the second line of defense, they’re at your disposal.”

Ant certainly followed that advice in the early going, as he looked noticeably more explosive and aggressive in trying to split the defenders when the Mavericks brought two to the ball. He drew two shooting fouls and added a score as a result. Edwards also made quicker decisions and got off the ball sooner in the offense, helping the Wolves make plays behind the first line of the defense more easily.

Minnesota opened 6/8 from the floor, but turned it over three times, leading to five Dallas points. Gobert picked up a pair of early turnovers, leading to a Dončić triple off an offensive rebound. But the Frenchman recovered nicely with a layup finish off a screen and roll feed from Conley, then made a nice short roll drop-off dime to Towns, who started 2/2 from the floor.

Dallas, meanwhile, continued to clank away on the other end, starting 4/17 from the floor, including just 2/11 on 2-pointers. The Timberwolves did an excellent job of preventing the Mavericks from getting all the way to the rim. Through 9:50 of game time, Dallas took just one shot at the rim, instead shooting 1/8 in the short mid-range area (4-14 feet), per PBP Stats. Gobert’s fingerprints were all over those misses, as he contested several and blocked a P.J. Washington floater attempt, too.

But the Mavs drought didn’t last forever, as Jaden Hardy and Josh Green made back-to-back 3s to cut a 22-12 Wolves lead down to 22-16. Minnesota responded nicely with a tough hook going left from Reid, and Edwards drawing a foul to shoot his seventh and eighth free throws of the quarter.

However, it could’ve been better. Towns picked up two fouls in a row before Edwards turned it over with 3.5 seconds left, leading to Green drawing a foul with 0.3 seconds left. Closing quarters has been a problem all postseason and it reared its head again. Minnesota did lead, though, 27-20 after one quarter. Edwards led all scorers with 14, while the Wolves dominated 14-2 in the paint without Dereck Lively II (neck sprain). Since the series shifted to Texas, Minnesota is a +34 (66-32) in the paint; the Mavericks were +40 (118-78) in Games 1 and 2, per Wolves PR.

Dallas continued that momentum into the second, as Irving and Dante Exum made a pair of ridiculous running little hooks in the lane, before Kyrie dimed up the Australian in the corner for a 3. Instead of being up closer to 15 or 20 while the Mavericks couldn’t hit a shot, the Timberwolves struggled to execute without turning it over, let the opponent get momentum, and all of a sudden had just a three-point lead after two minutes in change of the second quarter.

The Wolves settled down offensively as they got the starters back on the floor. Conley and Gobert cleared out the strong side corner to run pick-and-roll and generated a good look, a score, or a foul on nearly every rep. Edwards then joined the fun, knocking down a pull-up left slot 3 to extend the lead back to seven. Minnesota stayed committed to it until Gobert exited with 5:17 left in the second and the Wolves up 42-35.

But it was a short rest for Gobert, as Towns picked up his third foul at the 4:24 mark going for an offensive rebound he had no chance at bringing down. Then, after Jones Jr. hit a corner 3 to tie the game at 42 Edwards picked up an equally undisciplined foul just 49 seconds later, hacking Dončić 40 feet from the basket to put Minnesota over the limit. It was a 10-0 Mavs run, headlined by disappointing decision-making from the Wolves’ two-stars. To make matters worse, Gobert drew a whistle for his third foul at the 2:40 mark. So the Wolves had to play from there on in without their three stars.

Thankfully, their teammates had their backs and played Dallas to a 7-7 draw down the stretch of the half, behind crucial play from Conley on both ends. The 36-year-old made a pair of free throws, assisted a Slow-Mo bucket, and generally had the ball moving in a way that created better looks than you’d expect from a star-less lineup. He finished the first half with 13 points on 5/8 shooting, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Edwards led the way with 17 points on 5/11 shooting (just 5/8 on free throws), while Gobert and Towns each added five. Dončić was the only Maverick in double figures, scoring 17 on 4/13 shooting (3/6 from deep). Irving scored just six points on 2/8 shooting, while Washington was 0/4.

Minnesota held the Mavericks to just 6/19 (31.6%) from 2-point range, a massive improvement from their performances in Games 1 (49.4%), 2 (48.8%), and 3 (55.9%). That’s partly why it was a bummer the Wolves weren’t winning at the break.

Had I told you Edwards and Conley would out-score Dončić and Irving, Washington and Gafford would have two points each, and the Wolves would hold the Mavs to 6/19 from 2 in the first half, there’s no way you would’ve guessed it was an event game. But that was the reality, and that sums up how much of this series has played out.

Dallas quickly rectified their paint scoring problems by making four straight baskets inside, with three of them by Gafford. McDaniels answered nicely with a pair of scores, as Minnesota created a great opportunities for themselves on the offensive end. They just couldn’t cash enough of them in to build a lead in the early part of the third.

The Wolves went to horns set that flowed into a KAT/Rudy 4/5 pick-and-roll, which netted a pair of scores for Towns driving to his strong hand. The four-time All-Star picked up his fourth foul at the 7:35 on a third drive, but the coaching staff left him out there. He paid that decision off on the next trip with an and-1 by way of a strong move on the left block, before grabbing a pair of defensive rebounds, and then draining a big 3-pointer (after a 1-13 stretch in the last two games) to extend the lead to four, 66-62. That gave Towns 10 points in the frame on 4/4 shooting, his first double-digit scoring quarter since the first quarter of Game 2 in the Western Conference Semifinals.

But Towns didn’t last long, picking up his fifth foul in another chaotic, out of control manner, this time elbowing Washington in the face trying to draw a foul on a contested 3-point attempt. He went to the bench at the 4:59 mark, but not before Chris Finch . Reid checked in and immediately stepped up, scoring a big-time and-1 to silence the crowd after a Washington corner 3.

Edwards then thought he had a clean strip and a fast break going the other way, but Scott Foster disagreed. Minnesota challenged the call, Edwards’ fourth foul, but it was unsuccessful. Like Dallas did after the Towns, they got a left corner 3, this time from Hardy. But Ant stayed out there.

Gobert then hit the trifecta, fouling Hardy with 2:10 left and sitting for the remainder of the quarter.

Edwards accounted for the final five points (a dime to NAW for a corner 3) and a clutch middy pull-up just before the third quarter horn. Minnesota led 78-73 after three. Heard this story before? Presuming you have, it’d also then make sense that Dallas scored five points in the first 54 seconds to tie the game at 78.

But the Wolves got an equally quick 5-0 run of their own from an unlikely source: Gobert. He scored a nice layup off a feed from Anderson, then was fouled before the Mavericks goal-tended a little push shot.

Edwards gave that momentum away with another turnover, leading to a Luka lob that Jones Jr. grabbed off the catwalk to throw down. Irving then got in the scoring column for the first time since the 4:59 mark of the third to cut the lead to one. Game on.

The Mavericks didn’t shoot the ball as well in the middle part of the fourth as they did in, but they maintained pace with the Wolves because they kept firing away from 3. Minnesota didn’t do enough to take advantage of the misses they forced, as yet again they probably should’ve had a bigger lead than three before a Washington triple tied it at 86 with seven minutes to go.

Minnesota’s close-outs on 3-point shooters became a major issue, too. Reid struggled with it earlier in the quarter, before Towns and Gobert had their battles. The Dallas wings did a tremendous job of putting the ball on the deck to force scramble situations and create plays for their teammates, whether it was drop-offs to bigs, corner kicks, or hitting slot cutters.

Towns made up for it with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Wolves a 95-90 lead with five to play, injecting some major energy into the huddle during the timeout. The second triple had Anderson’s fingerprints all over it as he quarterbacked the whole play.

The Wolves’ coaching staff had Slow-Mo in the game for Conley during this stretch to get more size and length on the floor defensively. Dallas hunted Conley throughout the second half and down the stretch of Game 3, so you have to wonder if that played a factor in that decision, despite how good Conley had been offensively to that point. Anderson was terrific guarding Dončić all night, especially when it came to keeping away from the basket.

Towns then drained another huge 3-pointer with 2:54 to go to give the Wolves a six-point lead, instilling the first bit of fourth quarter confidence we’ve seen the team play with all quarter.

But he fouled out a minute later after fouling Dončić on a 3-point shot while up eight. Luka made all three, as Anderson re-entered to close with Conley, Edwards, McDaniels and Gobert.

Edwards didn’t want anyone else to decide the outcome, as he took the next three shots for the Wolves, draining two of them to give Minnesota a five-point lead with 40 seconds.

The Timberwolves held onto it for dear life, despite Dončić making a 3 and drawing a foul with 12.8 seconds left that cut the lead to three. He missed the free throw, and Minnesota made enough of theirs to squeak out a 105-100 win.

The stars flipped the script in the fourth quarter, as Towns (10 points on 3/4 3PT) and Edwards (six points on 3/7 FG) outscored Dončić (seven points on 1/5 FG, 4/6 FT) and Irving (six points on 3/7 FG) 16-13 to help close out their first win of the series.

Edwards led Minnesota with 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, while Towns caught fire for 25 points (20 in the second half) on 9/13 shooting, making four of his five 3s. Conley added 14 points, seven dimes and zero turnovers, while Gobert registered a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. McDaniels also scored in double figures with 10.

Dončić had an “off” game, scoring 28 points on 7/21 shooting to go along with 15 rebounds and 10 assists, while Irving joined him with only 16 points on 6/18 shooting. Hardy (!3), Gafford (12) and Washington (10) all scored in double figures, too.

Don’t the Wolves get two.

This story will be updated throughout the night after coach and player media availabilities.

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Photo by Tim Heitman/Getty Images

Karl-Anthony Towns Finds His Shot

Towns for the second straight game started to work his way back into an offensive rhythm not by doing anything different on that end, but rather by getting after it on the defensive glass, collecting four defensive rebounds in the frame. From there, KAT got the drive going in the 4/5 pick-and-roll with Gobert for a pair of scores, starting with this one to open the half:

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Then, he went extremely quick going left to draw contact from Jones Jr. after an empty short corner catch.

It was only then did Towns step back beyond the 3-point arc and shoot his first triple of the game. He stacked on top of one another each of the three phases of his offensive game that make him a truly special player.

“Being aggressive. No time to have any doubts in your mind, especially this time, it’s Game 4, down 3-0, ain’t no time to have any doubts. Go out there and be aggressive, shoot my shot like I’ve been doing all series, being confident in every shot I shoot,” Towns said postgame, explaining his second-half mindset.

“Defensively, being in my spots. All I can think about was being in my spots earlier. Make sure that I do as disciplined defense as possible, and don’t lose any confidence and don’t lose any aggression.”

Edwards was grateful that Towns stepped up when the team needed the four-time All-Star most.

“Everything came together for him. He was super confident. He wasn’t worried about any of the shots previous to the shots he hit tonight,” Edwards said of his co-star postgame. “He played exceptionally well, and he came through big time. He was the reason we won tonight.

While the fouls were at times maddening, they honestly made his ability to find a rhythm, sit for extended stretches, and then just dominate when he returned to the floor. Finch was asked about Towns’ ability to remain effective despite playing for as long as he did with five fouls:

“KAT’s a great player. His struggles were not going to last forever. He got himself going. Even when he got deep in foul trouble, we left him out there. I was gonna take him out one moment, then I believe he got fouled, so we left him in anyway,” Finch said postgame.

“Just let him roll, and he played smart, he played smart, played under control, rebounded really well for us, executed defensively. Really proud of him. He’s been a huge part of every series up until then and we knew we had to get him into this series. Tonight was a great step for him.”

Towns scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half, connecting on seven of his 10 shots, including 4/5 from 3-point range. He only played 30 minutes, but was a +15 on the floor; the Wolves were -10 in the 18 minutes he sat.

Minnesota will need every bit of Towns’ scoring for the rest of this series considering that 1) the more Towns scores, the more pressure comes off Edwards’ shoulders, and the more the floor opens up for drivers, and 2) Lively is still out, so Dallas’s rim protection is significantly weaker to defend against those drivers.

“Karl is a unique player. Some games when he’s missing the 3, you want him to play inside if he can. If he’s inside and things aren’t going well, you want him to space the floor because he can. He’s that diverse in his skill set,” Conley said postgame about Towns’s shot diet.

“For him, and our team, for him to be able to knock down the 3 and space that floor, it opens up the game for everybody else, it opens up the game for Ant, myself as guards trying to get into the paint to make plays. It gets him into a good rhythm, being able to pump fake and get guys off their feet and get downhill and finish over big guys and make plays himself because he’s a pretty good passer when he gets downhill.”

It should be noted that the call Towns ultimately fouled out on should not have been called. The NBA was supposed to get rid of players jumping forward into defenders that maintain their space on a close-out/contest, which is exactly what Dončić did. If Dončić continues to receive not only the volume of calls has been, but also the kinds of whistles he has been, it will be extremely tough to string wins together. But that’s the task at hand, and we’ll see if the Wolves are up to it.

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Kyle Anderson, Sixth Man

While this series hasn’t gone the way the Timberwolves envisioned, entering Game 4 there had been one constant beyond Minnesota’s fourth quarter struggles: great play from Anderson. He stepped up into the Sixth Man role on Tuesday, entering as the backup point guard as the first substitute off the bench along with Reid.

Slow-Mo across 54 minutes in those three games scored 28 points on 12/19 shooting, collected seven rebounds, dished out 10 assists to just two turnovers, and blocked a pair of shots. While his two points in Game 4 might tank his scoring average, he stuffed that sheet across his bench-high 25 minutes, with four rebounds, four assists to zero turnovers, and three steals, which turned into five Wolves points the other way. And, like he had been in the first three games, Anderson was the most effective defender when it came to keeping Dončić away from the rim, instead forcing him to take tough, contested 2s and step-back 3s.

He played most of his minutes at point guard tonight, event when Conley, Edwards or Alexander-Walker were on the floor. The beloved veteran did so many things beyond the box score, too, particularly when it came to weaponizing Towns’s shooting ability.

First, he orchestrates a horns look, pressing start by making an entry to Edwards in the slot. He then sets a great screen to free up Towns for a 3 that the big man can hop into. Cash.

Arguably the best way for a non-shooter to work without the ball in the NBA is to screen. But what makes Anderson more valuable than most non-shooting playmakers is his ability to not only organize a play with the ball, but do so off the ball and create open looks as a screener. Watch Slow-Mo throughout this play. He is on the same page as McDaniels, who is begging for KAT to space down to the corner. Knowing his next move, Anderson then motions to Edwards where to go with the basketball. Cash.

Those won’t show up in any counting stats or advanced metrics, but he essentially created two of the night’s biggest moments with his playmaking smarts.

“Yeah, he’s everything we need. He’s like the X-factor. Him and Jaden it’s like X-factors,” Edwards said postgame. “I was dribbling the ball. I damn sure was about to shoot it and I seen him pointing at big fella, and I’m like OK, cool. The big fella, he done cashed out.”

Anderson offered a tremendous cross-sport player comparison to explain his versatility as a playmaker.

“I think I’m really a point guard in real life, but I’ve just grown to be 6-9, so I think you could throw me out there in a bunch of different positions,” Anderson said.

“Watching baseball, I used to watch Ben Zobrist. He was able to play so many different positions – infield, outfield, having an impact for big games in Kansas City, Chicago. That was my guy, watching him, so if he could do it, I could do it in the basketball court.”

The former UCLA star proceeded to dig in on the defensive end in order to preserve the work he did offensively. Anderson fights over the initial screen to allow Gobert to stay home on Gafford on the roll — preventing a switching situation — and then swims back upstream to get a great contest on a potential game-tying 3.

While Anderson has his limitations as a player, he is still wildly impactful when he is at the peak of his powers, which he has been all series. If Slow-Mo can continue his streak of starring in his role, it’s hard not to like the Timberwolves chances of making the trip back to Dallas this weekend.

Photo by Tim Heitman/Getty Images

Three Areas of Improvement

While the Wolves should absolutely be celebrated for their gritty Game 4 victory, there are three major areas of concern they need to address if they want to live to see a Game 6.

First, they turned the ball over 15 times for 30 Mavericks points. While only six of them were live ball turnovers, the giveaways take so much rhythm out of the Timberwolves’ offense. Dončić and Irving do an excellent job of capitalizing on that by seeking momentum-swinging shots that effectively multiply the damage of each turnover, something they did very well in this one, especially as playmakers. Edwards led the way with six turnovers, which became eight Mavericks points. He needs to cut that number in half, minimally, from here on out if the Wolves want to make history.

The turnovers play into the second issue: corner 3-point defense. Minnesota allowed Dallas to shoot 16 corner 3s; that represents 19.7% of their total shots, more than double the NBA average in the playoffs (9.8%). The Mavericks made seven of those 16 (43.8%), while the Wolves shot 4/7 (57.1%). Dallas this postseason is taking roughly 13.2% of their shots from the corners, first in the NBA; their 40.0% shooting percentage on corner 3s ranks second among teams that won a first-round series and played meaningful playoff hoops (Minnesota is first at 40.8%). The Timberwolves have to do a much better job of running shooters off the line without setting off scramble mode defensively, which leads to breakdowns all over the floor against playmakers and scorers as lethal as Dallas’s two stars.

And finally, if the Wolves are going to complain so much about the free throw disparity, it is incumbent upon them to knock down the ones they do get. Minnesota won the free throw attempt battle 25-21, but lost the scoring (18-16) and percentage battle (85.7% to 64.0%). The Wolves are first among the four conference finalists in free throw attempts (92, about 23 per game), but third in free throws made (65, about 21.5 per game) because of their unacceptable 70.7% shooting clip. Conley (6/11 — 54.5%) and Reid (5/9 — 55.6%) stand out as poor performers. But Edwards is capable of shooting better than 76.9%, as Gobert is of clearing his 60.9% mark.

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Rotation

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Up Next

The Timberwolves and Mavericks will travel back to Minneapolis ahead of Game 5 on Thursday, as Minnesota looks to extend the series at home.

Fans can watch the 7:30 PM CT tip on TNT.

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Highlights