After putting Rudy Gobert on skates, Luka Doncic unleashes the trey that gave the Dallas Mavericks a 109-108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 of their NBA Western Conference finals best-of-seven series.
JORDAN JOHNSON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Luka Doncic drained the go-ahead three-pointer with 3.8 seconds remaining to lift Dallas to a 109-108 victory over Minnesota on Friday in another National Basketball Association Western Conference finals thriller.
Doncic delivered a triple-double of 32 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, and the Mavericks — who trailed by 18 in the second quarter — handed the Timberwolves a second straight home defeat to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Kyrie Irving got off to a slow start and was hindered by foul trouble, but he scored 13 of his 20 points in the frantic fourth quarter, which featured 11 lead changes.
The Timberwolves were up 108-103 with 1:29 remaining, but Doncic found Irving for a three-pointer from the corner, and after a Mavs timeout, the Slovenian superstar got the ball and wrong-footed Rudy Gobert, nailing a three over Minnesota’s Defensive Player of the Year for what proved the decisive basket.
Naz Reid made seven of nine three-point attempts for Minnesota and had a last chance for the Timberwolves, but his long-range effort bounced out at the buzzer.
“That was an exciting playoff game,” Irving said. “Luka fricking carrying us, man — that’s what we’re talking about right there in terms of leadership.”
Daniel Gafford scored 16 points and five blocked shots, P.J. Washington scored 10 and Dereck Lively chipped in 14 off the bench for the Mavericks.
“Everybody contributed,” Irving said.
Anthony Edwards scored 21 points with five rebounds and seven assists for Minnesota but connected on just five of 17 shot attempts on another tough shooting night.
Mike Conley scored 18 points for the Timberwolves, Gobert had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 15 points.
Leading 32-26 at the end of the first quarter, the Timberwolves pushed their lead to as many as 18 only for the Mavs to close the first half on an 8-2 scoring run to whittle the deficit to 60-48 at the break.
Doncic scored 11 points in the third quarter, when the Mavs cut the deficit to two points three times in the waning minutes.
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