The Dallas Mavericks easily defeated the Timberwolves 124-103 at the Target Center on Thursday, completing their business trip back to Minnesota for Game 5 and securing their third-ever trip to the NBA Finals. Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving were unstoppable in the Game 5 victory, scoring a combined 72 points to erase any chance of the Timberwolves winning by halftime.
Dončić’s 36 points and ten rebounds in Game 5 made him a lock for the MVP of the Western Conference Finals. Irving gave him thirty-six more. In 45 career postseason games, Luka’s 25th 30-point performance came in Game 5. For comparison, LeBron James now has 122 of them, while Michael Jordan had 109.
With 28 points apiece in the defeat, Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony-Towns led the Timberwolves. These are the five crucial numbers that helped Dallas win the decisive Game 5 match.
First-quarter points for Luka Dončić
Early in the first quarter, a Target Center supporter started flinging a handkerchief at Luka Doncic, seemingly in response to his tears about foul calls. During this early 20-point burst, Doncic kept glancing to the fan’s side of the floor after spotting him and grinning.
That was the first thing Dončić had in his sight during the game. He wasn’t here to fall short. Subsequently, a Timberwolves supporter seated in the front rows seemed to intensify this concentration and resolve when they waved a handkerchief in Dončić’s general direction at the beginning of the first quarter, seemingly in response to Dončić’s grievances towards the officials.
The fan’s error could have been minor because Dončić started the game with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting, including two fast 3-pointers, in the first three and a half minutes of play. Dončić was spotted making gestures towards the fan while returning to defense on a minimum of two of those occasions.
With three minutes remaining in the first quarter, Dončić made his third 3-ball of the game as the Mavs started to pull ahead. Dončić’s heatcheck was flawless, ending one step shy of the Timberwolves halfcourt logo, and Dallas led 27–18. The following trip down the court, he scored his fourth, putting Dallas ahead by twelve points and giving Dončić his first 20-point quarter of this playoff run. In the first quarter, he scored 20 points against the Wolves on his own.
The Mavericks led 35–19 after one quarter and seemed like a squad on a business trip. In the victory, Dončić hit 6-of-10 shots from three-point range, completely upending Minnesota’s strategy.
Timberwolves score in the last six minutes of the opening
In the last six minutes of the first quarter, the Mavericks outscored the Timberwolves 19-4 thanks to some excellent inside defense in addition to Dončić’s genius. In the first game against Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II—a last-minute roster addition following an original dubious tag following the Game 3 neck sprain—the Wolves shot only 4 of 9 from inside the restricted area.
For the last four minutes of the first quarter, 4:31 of it, the Mavs kept the Wolves scoreless. With 5:25 remaining in the first quarter, Minnesota went 0-of-8 from the field and turned the ball over three times until Anthony Edwards made a free throw with 54 seconds remaining.
Minnesota Timberwolves against. Dallas Mavericks – Game Five
On May 30, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during Game Five of the Western Conference Finals at Target Center, Kyrie Irving (#11) of the Dallas Mavericks drives to the basket against the Minnesota Timberwolves. David Berding took the picture/Getty Images
In the second quarter, Kyrie Irving continued to put pressure on the Timberwolves, and the Mavericks’ advantage grew to 29 points at one point. Irving led the Mavs to a 37-19 lead with a mid-range step-back jumper on their opening possession of the quarter, one of his 15 points on 5 of 5 shooting in the term.
With 8:52 remaining before halftime, he plowed into the teeth of the Minnesota defense and finished with a fantastic drive that increased Dallas’ advantage to 46-23. With one minute remaining in the quarter, he made a pull-up 3-pointer that gave the Mavericks their largest lead of the game, 67-38, with one minute remaining before halftime.
And then was the first time that the Target Center audience let out a few loud “boo’s” on the TNT coverage; the Wolves were thoroughly rattled by the attack on two fronts.
At the half, Dončić had the highest scoring total with 25 points, followed by Irving’s 19 points from a scorching second quarter. At the half, Dallas had a 69-40 lead.
27–15: Minnesota’s final-quarter collapse
Although the game was all but gone at the half, the Timberwolves managed to cut into the Dallas lead heading into the fourth quarter by outscoring the Mavs 27–15 over the last 7:54 of the third quarter. Sadly, Dončić had just made a floater to put the Mavs up 82-46, before Minnesota ever showed signs of life, so no amount of quick scoring from Edwards or Karl Anthony-Towns ever called into doubt the outcome.
Karl-Anthony Towns (32) of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Luka Doncic (77) of the Dallas Mavericks during the second quarter of Game Five of the Western Conference Finals at Target Center in the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Kluckhohn, Bruce / USA TODAY Sports
The ultimate predictor of success throughout the five-game series was Dončić and Irving’s domination over the Minnesota pair of Towns and Edwards. Combined, the Mavericks pair outscored the Minnesota combo 297-221 (59.4 to 44.2 per game) and defeated them 72-56 in Game 5, which was, on paper, Towns and Edwards’ finest game of the series.
Dončić and Irving have outperformed Towns and Edwards in all four of the Mavs’ victories in this series, by a significant margin. The Mavs pair defeated Towns and Edwards 63-35 in the first game, 52-36 in the second, 66-40 in the third, and 72-56 in the fifth. In Game 4, Towns and Edwards defeated Dončić and Irving, but only by a narrow margin of 10, 54-44, and the Wolves managed to win by five points.
It seemed that the formula for defeating these Wolves was straightforward from the start, but credit for slowing down the Minnesota combo on defense should also go to Derrick Jones Jr. and P.J. Washington. Throughout this postseason run, Dallas’ top two have made it clear who the best scoring combo in the Western Conference is. They will now play a club capable of scoring from every position on the court in the Boston Celtics in the Finals.
