Luka Doncic scored 33 points on 10-20 field goal shooting and Kyrie Irving scored 33 points on 12-20 field goal shooting as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 116-107. The Mavericks lead the Western Conference Finals 3-0, and can complete a sweep with a home win on Tuesday night. P.J. Washington added 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Derrick Jones Jr. scored 11 points and a had a game-best +15 plus/minus number. Dereck Lively II scored six points on 3-3 field goal shooting in just nine minutes before exiting the game for good after taking an inadvertent blow to the head from Karl-Anthony Towns.
Anthony Edwards had his best game of the series with 26 points, nine rebounds, and a game-high nine assists but the player prematurely touted as the next Michael Jordan was the game's sixth leading scorer in the fourth quarter (four points) and that just is not good enough--nor is it good enough for him to be the third best player (behind Doncic and Irving) in this series. When was Jordan ever the third best player in any playoff series? Mike Conley (16 points, four assists, just one turnover) and Naz Reid (14 points ) once again did their jobs, but Karl-Anthony Towns scored 14 points on 5-18 field goal shooting, including 0-8 from three point range. Rudy Gobert had nine points on 4-4 field goal shooting and six rebounds in 28 minutes. The people blaming Gobert for Minnesota's losses have yet to explain how it is his fault that Towns is misfiring from three point range and refusing to use his size effectively in the paint.
In the fourth quarter with the game and the series on the line, Dallas outscored Minnesota 29-20. In those decisive 12 minutes, Dallas shot .733 from the field and held Minnesota to .450 field goal shooting, but what should be even more disturbing to Minnesota than those numbers is that Minnesota jacked up eight three pointers in the final stanza and made just one. Minnesota made the move that Draymond Green has been screaming about--playing Gobert just 2:47 in the final 12 minutes--and the Timberwolves had not just their worst quarter of the game but their worst quarter of the series.
I picked Minnesota to win this series because I expected their big men to dominate the paint while Edwards played Doncic to a draw. I also thought that Minnesota's rangy wing defenders could do a reasonable job containing Irving. Minnesota has failed to meet all three of those expectations, and that is why they trail 3-0. I don't think that it is premature for me to admit that I was wrong about this series. Although the three games have been decided by a total of 13 points, the same patterns have happened in each game, and at this point there is no reason to think that those patterns will change: Minnesota is not playing efficient or intelligent offense, Doncic is outplaying Edwards by a large margin, and Irving is having his way with anyone who tries to guard him.
In my previous game recaps from this series, I explained why the anti-Gobert narrative being trumpeted by Draymond Green is nonsense so I will not repeat that analysis here other than to emphasize again that throughout the playoffs and in this series the number show that the Timberwolves are better when Gobert is on the court than when he is on the bench. All other things being equal or close to equal, NBA playoff series are often decided by the star matchups--even if the stars are not going head to head on every possession--and this series is being decided by that fact that Doncic and Irving are outplaying Edwards and Towns by a large margin.