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Tag Team: Kyrie Scores Early, Luka Dominates Late as Dallas Downs Timberwolves to Take Homecourt Advantage

Kyrie Irving scored 24 first quarter points and Luka Doncic scored 19 second half points--including 15 in the fourth quarter--as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 108-105 to seize homecourt advantage in the Western Conference Finals. Doncic (33 points, eight assists, six rebounds) and Irving (30 points, five rebounds, four assists) were the game's top two scorers and most dominant players, but some of the overall team numbers are eye-opening: the Mavericks won the rebounding battle 48-40, and they outscored the Timberwolves in the paint 62-38. During the regular season, the Timberwolves ranked 23rd in the league in three point field goals attempted (32.7 per game), but in this game they jacked up 49 treys and that is just not the optimal way for them to play even though they shot a respectable .367 from beyond the arc; when a team takes more than half of its shots from three point range it is not attacking the paint, it is not getting the opposing team in foul trouble, it is less able to set up its halfcourt defense, and overall it is engaging in a high variance approach that has repeatedly been proven to not lead to championship success. The Mavericks shot terribly from three point range (6-25, .240) but they won the game in no small part because they shot half as many three pointers as the Timberwolves; the Mavericks relentlessly attacked the paint and were so successful in that regard that they survived their poor three point shooting.

Jaden McDaniels led the Timberwolves with 24 points, but the Timberwolves need more from Anthony Edwards than 19 points on 6-16 field goal shooting. Edwards led the Timberwolves in rebounding (11) and assists (eight), but after the game he explained away the loss by asserting that his team was tired. That may be true, but he is a young player who has been favorably compared to Michael Jordan; being tired is not an option and not a valid excuse in the Conference Finals: the Timberwolves follow Edwards' lead, and the correct approach is (1) for Edwards to be more aggressive attacking the hoop and (2) for Edwards to take responsibility after the game instead of providing any excuses. 

Karl-Anthony Towns had just 16 points on 6-20 field goal shooting, including 2-9 from three point range. He must challenge Dallas in the paint and stop settling for long jumpers. Edwards and Towns combined to attempt 21 three pointers, which was nearly a fourth of Minnesota's field goal attempts. Edwards is the team's best driver and Towns is (or should be) the team's best post up threat, so when both players are settling for three pointers they are letting the defense off the hook. After the game, Towns acknowledged that Minnesota's "three big lineup is our biggest advantage" and he said that the Timberwolves must be tougher in the paint than they were in game one.

Rudy Gobert will almost always be the scapegoat after Minnesota loses, particularly when biased or uninformed people are given microphones on national broadcasts. Gobert had 12 points on 4-8 field goal shooting, plus seven rebounds and two blocked shots. He is supposedly "unplayable," yet he had a team-best +10 plus/minus number: the Timberwolves won his 38 minutes by 10 points and were outscored by 13 points in the 10 minutes when he was off of the court. At that pace, if the Timberwolves had cut his minutes then they would have lost by double digits. The more one listens to Draymond Green insult Gobert during TNT's telecasts the more one realizes that (1) Green is very biased and petty, (2) his basketball IQ is not nearly as high as advertised, and (3) he is blessed that he rode alongside Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, and others to four championships instead of spending his career racking up triple singles for a losing team, as he did during the 2019-20 season when Durant, Curry, Thompson, and Iguodala were not available to rescue him. It is true that Green's defense and passing contributed to Golden State's success, but the reality is that Green is a hotheaded and violent role player who complemented the great players around him, and not the great player that he is purported to be.

During his postgame media availability, Minnesota Coach Chris Finch made two very pertinent observations: he criticized his team's "terrible offense down the stretch," and he noted that Dallas attacked the paint with impunity when Gobert was not in the game. The boxscore numbers cited above support both points. Finch claimed to be OK with the quality of the three pointers that his team took, but I doubt that in game two Minnesota will jack up 49 three pointers while being dominated in the paint.

In my series preview, I picked Minnesota to win this series in six games because "their size will enable them to control the paint at both ends of the court, and because Anthony Edwards will play Luka Doncic to at least a draw." In game one, Dallas dominated the paint, and Doncic outplayed Edwards. The natural overreaction would be to assume that game two will be just like game one, but the reality is that momentum does not exist in a playoff series. Doncic and Irving may very well combine for 60-plus points again, but that should not be enough for Dallas to win if the Timberwolves use their size advantage effectively at both ends of the court.

Labels: Anthony Edwards, Dallas Mavericks, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic, Minnesota Timberwolves, Rudy Gobert

posted by David Friedman @ 2:00 AM

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