Minnesota dropped Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals to Dallas by the narrowest of margins — one point — in a contest where Luka Doncic hit a triple with three seconds to play and Naz Reid’s potential game winner rimmed out at the horn.

Naturally, after such a tight bout, every minute detail and decision will be analyzed and debated.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch isn’t immune to such discourse. Many of his decisions were questioned on social media during and after the game. Here’s what Finch had to say about his most pertinent calls:

On not calling a timeout when the Wolves gained possession of the ball up two with 32 seconds remaining to sub Mike Conley back into the game and call a play (the possession ended in Anthony Edwards throwing the ball out of bounds): “That’s on me in the sense that I should have called a timeout to get Mike back in the game on that second to last possession for us, or whatever. So I’ll take that one, it’s on me. But yeah, ball got static and turned it over. Same story as the other night, turnovers in the guts of the game, not gonna get it done.”

Finch was again asked about the decision to not take a timeout.

“I just said I shoulda called it,” Finch said. “But we thought the ball was in Ant’s hands, the differential on the clock wasn’t huge. But initially wanted to call it, but I didn’t.”

On the defensive plan on Dallas’ last offensive possession (the Wolves elected not to double team Doncic, instead switching a pick and roll that left Rudy Gobert on an island to guard Doncic): “The idea was switch up (and) press him inside the 3-point line.”

On leaving Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench for the final eight minutes of the contest in favor of Naz Reid (Towns went 4 for 16 from the field while Reid hit seven triples): “Naz was playing well, real well and gave us some switchable combinations out there and stuff like that.”

Finch said he didn’t converse with Towns about the decision during the game.

“No, I didn’t really have time to have that conversation,” he said.

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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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