NBA: Playoffs-Minnesota Timberwolves at Dallas Mavericks
DALLAS (AP) — Karl-Anthony Towns finally found his rhythm, and the Timberwolves finally closed a game in the Western Conference finals.
Now they head back to Minnesota for Game 5 on Thursday night to see if they can make things even more interesting against Dallas.
Towns scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half and the Wolves held off the Mavericks 105-100 on Tuesday night to avoid a sweep.
Anthony Edwards had 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as the Wolves stayed alive in their first trip to the conference finals in 20 years, and just the second in the franchise’s 35 seasons.
Towns, who was shooting 28% from the field in the series coming in, was 9 of 13 from the field, including four of five from deep. And that was after picking up fifth foul midway through the third quarter.
“Being aggressive,” Towns said. “Ain’t no time to have any doubts in your mind, especially at this time, it’s Game 4, down 3-0. Ain’t no time to have any doubts.”
Luka Doncic had 28 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in his sixth triple-double of these playoffs, but he and co-star Kyrie Irving were just 13 of 39 from the field. Irving, who was 14-0 in his career in closeout games coming in, made just one of six from long range and finished with 16 points.
“That game’s on me. Just didn’t give enough energy,” said Doncic, who was 7 of 21 from the field, including 1 of 5 in the fourth when he and Irving had combined as closers to build the big series lead. “They won one game. We’ve just got to focus on the next one.”
The Wolves have led in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter of every game in the series, and this time they finished.
Towns put the Wolves ahead for good on a 3-pointer with 5:41 remaining, then hit another from deep the next time down. His third 3 of the final quarter put Minnesota up six with three minutes to go.
“He was super confident,” Edwards said. “He wasn’t worried about any shots previous to the shots that he hit tonight. He played exceptionally well.”
Edwards put the Wolves up five with a jumper just inside the…
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