The Dallas Mavericks have a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals, and they made it hurt for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With Luka Dončić leading the way, the Mavericks took Game 2 in a 109-108 heartbreaker for the Timberwolves. Game 3 is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Sunday in Dallas (TNT).
Dončić had 32 points on 10-of-23 shooting, 13 assists, 10 rebounds and, of course, the game-winner. Down 108-106 with four seconds remaining, Dončić made a stepback 3-pointer over Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert to take the air out of a Target Center that had once been enjoying an 18-point lead.
Luka Dončić did it all for the Mavericks. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
Dončić made sure to let Gobert know what happened right after.
The Timberwolves had a chance to respond and even got the ball in the hands of Naz Reid, their hottest shooter of the night, but his would-be game-winner clanked out. Reid finished with a team-leading 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting (7-of-9 from 3-point range).
Minnesota was in control until early in the fourth quarter, when an 8-0 run erased the lead and left the two teams in a dogfight. The fourth quarter saw 11 different lead changes, with Dončić and Kyrie Irving exchanging haymakers with Reid and Anthony Edwards.
Irving made his first 3-pointer of the series in the fourth, then made three more the rest of the game. He could have been the goat due to three of four missed free throws in the same quarter, but made up for it with some incredible plays.
It was a brutal night for Minnesota, which thought it had a series-tying win in hand, then had to fight it out in the fourth quarter. It managed to eke out a five-point lead with a minute and a half remaining, but that was just the runway for Dončić to again take off.
And then, of course, there were the refs.
Challenge controversy looms large after Mavericks benefit from clear foul by Kyrie Irving
Less than a minute before Dončić made his shot, the Timberwolves had the ball up 108-106 with a chance to force Dallas into a foul-to-win situation. What happened next was a slow-motion disaster.
Jaden McDaniels caught an errant ball at…
..
