DALLAS — Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving scored 33 points apiece and the Dallas Mavericks again came up with a string of big plays late on Sunday night to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-107 and take a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
The Mavericks finished with a 14-3 run to clinch their fifth straight playoff win after rookie center Derek Lively II was accidentally hit in the back of the head by Karl-Anthony Towns’ knee and left the game with a sprained neck.
No team in NBA playoff history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win Game 4, which will be played Tuesday night in Dallas.
“We just need one more point, one more point,” Doncic said. “Nothing’s done yet. They’re a great team, so nothing’s done yet. We just need to get one more point, and if we get one more point, we need the rest.”
P.J. Washington started the decisive run with a 3-pointer from the corner after Doncic passed to Irving, who fed Washington the ball.
From there, the co-stars took over.
Doncic made a shot in the lane for a four-point lead, Irving sent the crowd into a frenzy with a falling jumper, and then Doncic set up Daniel Gafford for an alley-oop dunk after Gafford blocked a Mike Conley layup at the other end for a 113-105 lead with 34 seconds left.
“They doubled me the whole game, they doubled Kai the whole game, so that made us stronger,” Doncic said. “Everybody touched the ball, everybody made plays. It was a great win. We gave it our all down the stretch and got the win.”
Anthony Edwards scored 26 points for the Timberwolves, but just four points after Minnesota scored eight straight points in the third quarter to tie the game for the Timberwolves.
Towns scored 14 points but missed all eight of his 3-point attempts, including one with 1 minute, 25 seconds left when the game was down by four.
Minnesota took a 104-102 lead on a Kyle Anderson floater with five minutes left in the game, but then missed seven straight shots.
“We’ve got to be right up there with them and try to score,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “We’ve struggled throughout the whole series to close games out and these three minutes of games that we’re playing, we’re losing them.”
Doncic, whose game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds of Game 2 in Minnesota put Dallas firmly in control of the series, made 10 of 20 shots and 5 of 11 from the 3-point line.
Irving made 12 of 20 shots and 3 of 6 from long range, and the Mavs moved one win away from reaching their first NBA Finals since 2011, the franchise’s only championship.
In the second quarter, Lively experienced the kind of contact you normally see on a football field not far from the quarterback-tight end pair of Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, who were sitting courtside.
Lively, a freshman from Duke University, remained on the court and held his head after the accidental contact caused it to fly forward. Lively was on the ground for several minutes before being helped off the court and taken to the locker room, appearing dazed.
Lively fell while driving for a missed shot by Mike Conley, and Towns’ knee struck Lively in the head in the second quarter while going for an offensive rebound.
The 20-year-old Lively and starting center Daniel Gafford played key roles in helping Dallas jump out to a 2-0 lead. Lively has made 12 of 12 field goals in the series, including three in Game 3.
