Three days ago, Minnesota was in a state of euphoria after rallying from a 20-point deficit in Game 7 to knock off the defending champs.
Now, the Timberwolves trail the Western Conference Finals 1-0.
Life moves fast in the NBA. Series change and you are asked to do different things stylistically and schematically to match your new opponent.
Minnesota was a little slow to the trigger in its 108-105 loss to Dallas on Wednesday at Target Center.
The Wolves took too long to find their defense against Dallas’ pick-and-roll heavy approach. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving got to the paint at will, and with the game on the line, Doncic took over in the fourth to guide the Mavericks to victory.
While Minnesota couldn’t find its way in the final few minutes.
Minnesota took a 102-98 lead on an Anthony Edwards triple with 3 minutes, 37 seconds to play, punctuating a 13-1 run that appeared to have the Wolves en route to an impressive comeback victory.
But the offense ran cold from there.
The Wolves went more than three minutes before their next bucket — a Naz Reid putback with 10 seconds to play. In between the buckets were four missed shots and two turnovers. And that was the game.
“No composure,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “It was the same at the end of the first half. We haven’t really closed quarters very well, closed halves very well over the last handful of games. It cost us a game in the Denver series. It certainly had an impact on this game tonight, too. We’ve got to be better in clutch moments.”
As a whole, Mike Conley felt the team looked tired.
“In a sense that we weren’t moving without the ball, we weren’t setting screens, we weren’t getting guys open. We were holding onto the ball a lot. No matter what call we made or set we tried to get into, there was not a lot of energy put into it,” Conley said. “And you can’t effectively run anything without having that energy. We have to find that. We can not be that team that goes three minutes without scoring against a team like Dallas who has guys that are going to come at you and make you pay for it.”
Just like that, Dallas has stolen home court.
Minnesota fell on a night where its two star players — Karl-Anthony Towns and Edwards — struggled to get going offensively.
Towns was 6 for 20 from the field. Edwards was 6 for 16, though he did grab 11 boards to go with eight assists. Still, his defense wasn’t as assertive as it was over the first two postseason series. Perhaps the guard was a bit fatigued after the battle with Denver.
But that’s not an allowable excuse at the moment. The page must be flipped. Especially with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.
While the stars struggled, Minnesota’s role players stepped up in a big way. Jaden McDaniels and Kyle Anderson were a combined 10 for 12 from the floor to start the game. McDaniels finished with 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting, burying six triples.
But Dallas will likely take its chances with those guys knocking down outside shots if it means the big guns aren’t firing on all cylinders. The Mavericks had the opposite, with Doncic and Irving combining for 63 points, while its role players struggled to knock down shots.
But, come winning time, it was Doncic who carried the torch. He finished with 15 points, four rebounds and two steals in the final frame alone. Included in that was a tough, contested triple to cut Dallas’ deficit to one in the final five minutes when it looked like Minnesota — which stormed back from eight down earlier in the quarter — was starting to seize control.
Still, Minnesota had a chance late. Trailing by four with two seconds to play, Conley was fouled on a 3-point attempt, meaning if he could make the first two free throws, he could miss the third intentionally and perhaps the Wolves could make something happen on the glass with their size advantage.
But he missed the second free-throw attempt. It was that kind of night for the Wolves.
Game 2 is Friday at Target Center. The importance of that one is suddenly heightened for Minnesota.
“I think we haven’t been tested like this where we’ve had to trade basket to basket, late-game free-throw situations or fouling situations, stuff that we have to be better at,” Conley said. “But we’ll learn from it. I think each game we’ve learned a lot about ourselves, a lot we can get better at. Obviously, it’s going to be a long series, regardless of what happened tonight.”
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