Luka Doncic led both teams in points, rebounds, and assists (32/10/13 respectively) and hit the game-winning three pointer as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-108 to take a 2-0 Western Conference Finals lead. Doncic joined Nikola Jokic (2023), Magic Johnson (1982) and Wilt Chamberlain (1967) in the select group of players who posted four triple doubles in a five game span during the playoffs. Jokic, Johnson, and Chamberlain each won championships during their special triple double playoff campaigns. Kyrie Irving added 20 points and six assists. Daniel Gafford (16 points on 8-10 field goal shooting) and Dereck Lively II (14 points on 6-6 field goal shooting) led the way inside as Dallas outscored Minnesota 54-42 in the paint. Doncic (16 points), Irving (15 points), and Gafford (10 points) nearly matched Minnesota's second half scoring total (48 points) as Dallas outscored Minnesota 61-48 overall in the second half while holding the Timberwolves to .389 field goal shooting.
The series shifts to Dallas for games three and four with Minnesota crashing down from the high of eliminating the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets and now trying to avoid being swept.
The Timberwolves had a horrific offensive performance, shooting just .414 (35-85) from the field. Naz Reid scored a team-high 23 points on 8-13 field goal shooting, including 7-9 from three point range. Mike Conley was his usual steady, dependable self with 18 points on 7-14 field goal shooting, five assists, and five rebounds. Rudy Gobert--everyone's favorite scapegoat lately--had 16 points on 6-10 field goal shooting plus a game-high 10 rebounds (tied with Doncic). He had a plus/minus number of +1. Those three players each did their jobs. In contrast, Minnesota's two All-Stars fell well short of reasonable expectations. Anthony Edwards had 21 points and a team-high seven assists, but he shot just 5-17 from the field and had a game-worst -9 plus/minus number. Edwards shot 6-24 from the field as Minnesota beat Denver in game seven, and he shot 6-16 from the field in game one versus Dallas. He looks worn down, and he is playing like he is worn down, which is puzzling for a young player who seems to be in great shape and who is being promoted as the next big thing. Karl-Anthony Towns was even worse than Edwards, scoring 15 points on 4-16 field goal shooting; he was not in his usual foul trouble, but he played only 26 minutes.
The relevant storylines from this game are (1) Luka Doncic is great, (2) Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns are playing well below All-Star level, and (3) the Timberwolves are not playing efficiently or intelligently on offense.
The media driven narrative from this game is that everything is Rudy Gobert's fault; leading the charge of the intellectually-light brigade is Draymond Green, who is available to provide TV commentary because his Golden State Warriors lost in the Play-In Tournament. Watching Green's Moby Dick-like obsession with bringing down Gobert, one is forced to conclude that Green either does not understand basketball, or that he cannot speak rationally about this series because he is so jealous that Gobert has won four Defensive Player of the Year awards.
An intelligent, unbiased commentator would talk about Anthony Edwards--crowned by some as the next Michael Jordan after winning two playoff series--playing passively and shooting poorly throughout the game before throwing the ball away with 12.8 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter; that miscue set up Doncic's game-winning shot when the Timberwolves had an opportunity to take a two possession lead.
An intelligent, unbiased commentator would talk about Towns playing so poorly that his coach benched him for most of the second half.
An intelligent, unbiased commentator would talk about the final possession of the game when Dallas gave up an open three pointer to Naz Reid even though Reid was the hottest three point shooter in the game. Reid's shot barely missed, but just as it could be argued that Minnesota should not have given up a three pointer to Doncic with a two point lead it could also be argued that Dallas should not have given up an open shot to Reid, one of the few Minnesota players who shot well in this game.
Instead, Green focused his attention on Gobert, sounding like a little kid on the playground teasing another kid as opposed to sounding like an intelligent, unbiased commentator analyzing what happened. It is valid to question why Minnesota left Gobert in the game for the last defensive possession instead of going small, switching everything, and forcing Dallas to shoot a two point shot--but it is silly to act as if Gobert is personally responsible for Doncic hitting the kind of shot that he has hit many times before against many other players.
Gobert has one of the best plus/minus numbers overall during the 2024 playoffs, and the Timberwolves have outscored the Mavericks during his minutes this series while being outscored when Gobert is out of the game. I would not be surprised if "Screamin' A" Smith acted as if an entire 48 minute NBA game can be boiled down to one shot, but intelligent commentators understand that the last play is not necessarily what decided the outcome. Here, the Timberwolves enjoyed a 16 point third quarter lead before their offense fell apart; are we supposed to pretend like all of those empty offensive possessions had nothing to do with the final result?
Green is either an idiot or a buffoon: he either does not know what he is talking about, or he does not care how foolish he sounds. It is interesting that Kenny Smith was the only person on the TNT set who was willing to even tentatively challenge Green's nonsense both before and after the game. Smith noted that the Timberwolves have outscored the Mavericks during Gobert's minutes, and Smith emphasized that Doncic could have made that last shot over anyone, not just Gobert. Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal did not contradict Green, but they correctly focused on Towns' shortcomings and they made the valid point that if the Timberwolves are going to play big then their big men must play with force in the paint. The Timberwolves' problem is that they are not attacking the paint offensively--and that problem must be fixed by Edwards and Towns. The problem is not drop coverage or Rudy Gobert or any other nonsense spewed by Green. If Green keeps lying about Gobert it would be great if someone had the guts to tell the truth about Green, and his triple single exploits on .389 field goal shooting for the 15-50 Warriors during the 2019-20 season when Green did not have Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, or Andre Iguodala to do the heavy lifting. I'll double down on what I said before: Green will be inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame primarily because he was lucky enough to play alongside those four players.
It is also worth mentioning that Green went 0-3 versus Minnesota this season, and 1-2 last season (Golden State beat Minnesota once in 2022-23 when Green did not play, an example of addition by subtraction). If Green is so smart, maybe he should use that big brain to figure out how to do better than 1-5 versus the player and team that he keeps mocking.
The NBA and TNT should have been embarrassed to put Green on the air in the first place after his numerous violent incidents, and they should be even more embarrassed by how he is doing his part-time job. When David Stern was the NBA's Commissioner, he took the consistent position that it was important to promote the game and uplift the players. How does it promote the game to uplift a violent and petty person like Green to a position of prominence so that Green can mock the league's Defensive Player of the Year? If Gobert is as bad as Green suggests, then either the league is trash, or the media members who do the voting are idiots; neither scenario is a good look for the league.
Green's laser focus on Gobert not only demeans Gobert specifically and the NBA product in general, but it diminishes Doncic's greatness. Unlike Green's buddy LeBron James, Doncic does not complain about his teammates or whine about his injuries. Doncic gets the job done without making excuses. Doncic's greatness is the story, and that should be the focus, not Green's weird vendetta against Gobert.