It was one of the turnovers that helped doom Minnesota’s late-game collapse in Game 2 of the West Finals on Friday.

Minnesota was leading by two when Anthony Edwards found himself in traffic on the perimeter and fired a pass high down to Jaden McDaniels on the baseline. McDaniels jumped up to snatch the ball while keeping his feet in bounds. Then Dallas guard Kyrie Irving came smacked the ball out of McDaniels’ hands and out of bounds.

The on-court ruling was the ball was out of bounds off Irving, meaning Minnesota would’ve retained possession with 47 seconds to play and five ticks left on the shot clock.

But Irving pled with Mavericks coach Jason Kidd to challenge the out of bounds ruling. He signaled that he hit McDaniels’ wrist, not the ball.

“It looks like it was also a foul, right? Of course,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “It looked like he was fouled, but they can’t – or didn’t – account for that in the call.”

Irving was right. Dallas challenged and, sure enough, replay confirmed the ball went out of bounds off McDaniels. It was Dallas’ ball.

“Postgame review we did see illegal contact from (Kyrie) Irving to the forearm of McDaniels that should have been called a foul,” Game 2 crew chief Zach Zarba told a pool reporter after the game.

Zarba also noted it’s not within NBA rules for the officials to tack on a foul call after reviewing a play. The Wolves couldn’t have challenged that, either, because you cannot challenge a foul that was not whistled.

The Mavericks did not score on their ensuing possession. But had Minnesota maintained possession in that moment, it could’ve potentially scored. And, had the officials called a foul, McDaniels would’ve gone to the free-throw line with a chance to put Minnesota up four with 47 seconds to play.

It’s possible the Mavericks would’ve won, anyway. The Wolves certainly didn’t do much to help themselves in the game’s closing moments. But Minnesota would’ve been in a more advantageous position to hold onto the victory at that point.

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Twenty years ago, Timberwolves captivated Minnesota. That group is living vicariously through this playoff run.

But that’s irrelevant now.

Before Game 2 of his team’s Western Conference final series against the Timberwolves on Friday, Dallas coach Jason Kidd was asked how Luke Doncic overcame a poor-shooting start to play the starring role in the Mavericks’ 108-105 Game 1 victory on Wednesday.

“That’s Ky,” Kidd said.

No, the reporter said, Luka.

“Yeah. That’s having Ky,” Kidd repeated.

While Doncic was struggling early, it was Kyrie Irving who kept the Mavericks close in Game 1, scoring 24 first-half points to single-handedly keep the Timberwolves from running away with it early. Doncic took over late, and Dallas had a 1-0 lead in this best-of-seven series.

The script was flipped on Friday, but the result was the same, a Dallas victory in Game 2. Doncic was a handful all night, finishing with 32 points and 10 rebounds as the Mavericks edged the Timberwolves 109-108 at Target Center. But it was Irving — who had only five points in the first half — who finally pushed the Mavericks into the lead late.

The TImberwolves had a 58-40 lead with 2 minutes, 47 seconds left in the first half and a golden opportunity to take the life out of the Mavericks before the half. Now they’d better hope the Mavericks haven’t taken the life out of them after winning the first two games in this best-of-seven series in Minneapolis.

Irving has disappeared a few times in this postseason, and it appeared that Friday might be another of those. Instead, he finished with 20 points, six assists and four boards to send the Mavericks into Game 3 at American Airlines on Sunday with a 2-0 series lead.

The Nuggets forced a Game 7 after losing twice to the Timberwolves in Denver in the last round, but this Mavericks team — despite not having three-time MVP Nikola Jokic — is a tough out, and so far it’s because of Irving, an NBA champion in Cleveland and veteran of three NBA finals series.

Naz Reid missed a potential game-winner, a 3-pointer that bounced in and out as the clock expired, but Doncic essentially won the game after creating space against Rudy Gobert behind the arc and draining a fall-away 3-pointer. He was magnificent, adding a game-high 13 assists for a triple-double.

Doncic has been terrific, but he can’t will the Mavericks to victory without another reliable scorer, and it’s been Irving so far in this series, the Timberwolves’ first conference final since 2004. Dallas executed when the game was close and the Timberwolves didn’t on Friday, and it was Irving — a veteran of 89 NBA postseason games — who turned a 12-point halftime deficit into a lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks had pulled within a bucket a couple of times and trailed 86-80 after three quarters. In the first 97 seconds of the fourth, Irving hit a 3-pointer to make it 86-83, drove to set up a hook shot by P.J. Washington that made it 86-85, and drilled another 3 to put Dallas up, 88-86 — the Mavericks’ first lead since they were up 7-6 just 2:24 into the game.

Washington, by the way, was instrumental in the Mavericks’ ability to rein in Anthony Edwards, who finished with 21 points and a game-high seven assists but shot poorly (5 of 17 from the floor), complained to a referee while the Mavericks scored 5-on-4 and committed a giant turnover with 12 seconds left and the Wolves up 108-106.

The next basket was Doncic’s game-winner, although Irving cut the Wolves’ lead to 108-106 on a 3-pointer with 1:05 left.

Edwards was held to 19 points on 6-for-16 shooting in Game 1, and before Friday’s game, head coach Chris Finch noted, “He’s entitled to have a game like that once in a while.”

Is two in a row a bad sign? Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 15 points and seven rebounds and barely played in the fourth quarter.

Reid finished with a team-high 23 points and scored some big baskets late to give the Wolves a chance to win, and Mike Conley was Minnesota’s best player early. But the Timberwolves won’t advance to their first NBA Final without Edwards going big.

Not with Doncic and Irving making big buckets for Dallas.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified 35-year-old Andrew Scott Dale, of Crookston, as the man fatally shot by a Crookston police officer after allegedly running toward law enforcement with a hatchet on May 16.

A forensic pathologist at the University of North Dakota identified Dale and determined that he died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to a Thursday press release from the BCA.

Crookston Officer Nick Fladland fired his department-issued handgun, the release said. He has five years of law enforcement experience and has been placed on leave, which is standard.

One other Crookston police officer and one Polk County sheriff’s deputy were identified as using less-lethal force during the incident.

Officer Alex Rudnik deployed his Taser. He has 10 years of law enforcement experience. Deputy Matt Benge fired 40-mm foam less-lethal rounds. He has five years of experience.

The BCA’s preliminary investigation revealed that just before 1 a.m. May 16, officers observed Dale walking in the road with a hatchet, the release said. He allegedly ran toward them while holding the weapon. Rudnik and Benge’s use of less-lethal force was ineffective. Fladland fired his handgun, striking Dale multiple times.

“The officers provided life-saving care, but Dale later died at the hospital,” the release said.

BCA crime scene personnel at the scene recovered a hatchet and cartridge casings. Body-worn cameras captured portions of the incident, and BCA agents are reviewing all video footage as part of an active investigation.

Once the investigation is completed, the agency will present its findings to the Polk County Attorney’s Office for review.

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There’s a moment from last season that has thrilled Wolves fans for a year plus. Dallas had the ball with a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, and Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards stonewalled Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, forcing a turnover to secure Minnesota’s victory.

With a chance to repeat history Friday, Minnesota couldn’t get the same stop.

Down two in the closing seconds, Doncic forced a switch onto Rudy Gobert, stepped back to fire from behind the 3-point line and drilled it with three second to play.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said the defensive game plan was to switch and then press up on anyone beyond the 3-point line. Gobert wasn’t able to apply quite enough pressure.

“He hit a big-time shot. I let my team down,” Gobert said. “They believed in me to get a stop, and they scored. He scored with a three. It’s something that he does really well. Definitely taking that responsibility. I’ve got to be better in that situation.”

Naz Reid then missed a good look at the horn on the other end, as Dallas rallied for a 109-108 victory at Target Center to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

“I thought it was good,” Anthony Edwards said of the shot.

But it wasn’t, and that was the difference. Dallas hit a shot when it mattered most, and Minnesota didn’t.

Trailing by seven to start the fourth quarter, Dallas opened the period on an 8-0 run to take the lead and force a Minnesota timeout. That started a back-and-forth affair in which the two teams traded blows offensively.

Finally, Dallas flinched in the final two minutes. On one possession, Derrick Jones Jr. and Kyrie Irving missed open triples. Then, Irving got to the free-throw line but missed twice. On the other end, Anthony Edwards attacked twice and got to the free-throw line both times, hitting all four attempts to stretch the lead to five with 90 seconds to play.

Ballgame, right? Not against these Mavericks.

Irving hit a triple, Dallas got multiple stops — including forcing a turnover by Edwards — and the Mavericks had the ball down two with 12.8 seconds to play. Then it was Doncic time. Doncic finished with 32 points, 13 assists and 10 boards. The Mavericks shot 60 percent from the floor in the second half.

Minnesota simply cannot end up in clutch-time situations against two of the league’s great late-game assassins.

“They’re two of the best at playmaking as well as going and getting their own bucket,” Mike Conley said. “In a series like this, you almost can’t be reliant on going into a close, one-possession game in fourth quarters, because those guys can get a bucket in multiple different ways. They’re probably two of the best at doing it, so we have to find ways to where if we have leads — six point leads — make it eight, make it 10. Try to stretch the game out a little bit to where it puts more pressure on them.”

At one point early in the fourth quarter, Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns were a combined 8 for 32 from the floor.

Minnesota decided to sit Towns in favor of Naz Reid down the stretch, while Edwards was largely moved off the ball. Both were necessary decisions. Reid missed his last attempt but did drill seven triples. Minnesota’s best offense was run by Mike Conley, who tallied 18 points.

Minnesota led by as many as 18 late in the second quarter. The Timberwolves were imposing their will on the defensive end and generating good offense. It looked like a patented Wolves’ playoff blowout.

But Dallas closed the half on an 8-2 run to get within 12 at the break and continued to make just enough plays to hang around and position itself for a run. The run was made, and now Minnesota heads to Dallas firmly on the ropes. Game 3 is Sunday in Dallas.

“I don’t really think anybody is frustrated — that’s the best part about it,” Reid said. “We know that it’s us. We just have to get into our ways and our brand of basketball, knowing that it’s us and we’re beating ourselves, for the most part.”

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