Dallas Mavericks won Minnesota Timberwolves game last night

• Minnesota Timberwolves game last night against Dallas Mavericks ended in a 105 – 108 loss
• This handed the Mavericks a ticket to more victory
• This was their first successful Game 1 in the Western Conference finals

Minnesota Timberwolves game last night against Dallas Mavericks ended in a 105 – 108 loss for the Wolves.

The Wednesday night game handed the Mavericks a ticket to more victory after a successful Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. The team rode their typical offensive before a boisterous Target Center crowd to win three points at the end of the match.

Home-court advantage also helped the Dallas Mavericks win in a game that witnessed 14 lead changes.

How Minnesota Timberwolves Game Last Night Went

The Dallas Mavericks scooped a 108-105 victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was a thin three-point lead that ended in a beautiful tale of the Game 1 Western Conference finals in 2024.

Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic stole the show with a combined 63 points in the first half of the game. Doncic scored 15 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter. The Mavericks won even though Irving only shot 24% (6 for 25) from outside the arc. He scored 24 of his 30 points in the first half of the game.

In the last four minutes of play, the Timberwolves led by four points thanks to a 13-1 surge in the fourth quarter. However, they failed to score for over three minutes after that.

Minnesota Timberwolves vs Dallas Mavericks. Photo/Mavs Moneyball

Wolves player Anthony Edwards managed to score 19 points on 6 of 19 shots. He finished the game with just 11 points, having scored eight points in the first quarter.

Leading the Wolves with 24 points, Jaden McDaniels made six of his nine 3-point tries. The Wolves attempted 24 more three-pointers than the Mavs, going 18 for 49 from long range.

How Did Luka Doncic Play?

Doncic’s presence was felt in the second of the Minnesota Timberwolves game last night.  The 2024 NBA playoff run hasn’t seen the Dallas Mavericks star perform consistently, largely because of a variety of injuries.

However, he performed admirably when it counted most in Game 1; the Mavericks needed every bit of his brilliance. With 33 points, six rebounds, eight assists, and three steals in the end, Doncic wrote victory for Mavs.

He led repeated comebacks in the fourth quarter where he played his best against a domineering Minnesota Timberwolves.

Doncic spearheaded a 13-0 run early in the quarter, during which he scored or assisted on 11 of the Mavericks’ points while they trailed by five.

Doncic then stepped up once more in the final minutes as the Timberwolves roared back ahead to establish a 4-point lead.

He closed the game on a 10-3 run to seal a Game 1 victory. Doncic has averaged 31 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 9.7 assists in his last three games for the Dallas Mavericks.

Doncic told ESPN after the game that he had no choice other than to play his best in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. He did his best at the moment when he got a spot.

“I just said to myself, ‘We got to win this game. I gotta be way better” because three quarters, I didn’t play good. So I just came into the fourth, got to my spots and lead the team to win,” he said.

Minnesota Timberwolves . Photo/Mavs Moneyball

What Did Kyrie Irving Do to Minnesota Timberwolves?

Irving extended his brilliant play to the Minnesota Timberwolves game last night as he has had in the run-up to the conference finals.

Within minutes, he skillfully manoeuvred the court, Karl-Anthony Towns not scaring him. He led all scorers at the end of the first half with a total of 24 points.

In the last seconds of the half, he made the most significant stretch that gave the Mavericks a good lead to victory.

Irving scored five points in a 20-second span to tie the game at three points at the half.  It was during the Minnesota Timberwolves game last night that Irving and Doncic made NBA history by becoming the first team to score 30 points apiece in two series openers.

Nevertheless, even though Dallas has won four of the previous five series under head coach Jason Kidd, this is the first time in six attempts that the Mavs have won Game 1.