Kyrie Irving leads the Mavericks 120-114 against the Timberwolves in the WCF rematch

The Dallas Mavericks traveled north to play the Minnesota Timberwolves for the second straight night. It's the first game back from last year's Western Conference Finals and the Wolves wanted to make up for last season's disappointment.

Both teams started with their usual lineups: Dallas with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford and the Timberwolves with Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert. The addition of Randle came just before the start of the season, so they are still working out the kinks.

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Anthony Edwards started the game with a stop on Irving, making up for his exit from Irving before last year's series, and then finished the game with a nifty layup at the other end. Dallas scored the next eight points without fear of Gobert's presence. Edwards had 10 of Minnesota's first 12 points to give them a 12-11 lead, but Dallas responded immediately with a leak-out dunk from Gafford.

The next few minutes were a back-and-forth affair. Randle hit a three-pointer to put the TWolves ahead, and then Luka Doncic responded with a finish through contact (no foul) to tie the game, Jaden McDaniels responded with an easy two-pointer, and then got Doncic the equalizer and one on the other end to send the game to the first timeout.

Jason Kidd had to call a timeout after Anthony Edwards hit his fourth three-pointer of the quarter, giving him 17 of Minnesota's first 27 points. He was already 6/8 off the ground and absolutely felt it. That heat didn't continue until the timeout, as he scored a total of 24 points in the first frame, giving the Wolves a 34-26 lead early in the second frame. Dallas held on for most of the quarter but collapsed in the final minutes.

Minnesota would jump out to a 10-point lead early in the second quarter after Daniel Gafford left the game with an apparent lower leg injury (he would return later), and Dallas endured a rare stretch of consistent turnovers. However, a transition completion from PJ Washington and a three-pointer from Kyrie Irving would quickly reduce the game back to five points. At that point, Minnesota had made ten threes to Dallas' three, but the game was still within striking distance.

Dallas would take the lead with just over 4:30 remaining after a three-pointer from PJ Washington and then Luka Doncic for Dereck Lively II. A technical free throw and a three-pointer from Klay Thompson increased the Mavs' lead to five, giving them their largest lead yet. A few baskets later, Randle regained the lead for Minnesota before Washington responded on the other side with a three-pointer.

Luka Doncic went to the locker room a few minutes before halftime after suffering an apparent lower leg injury, but the Mavs held on to their 61-59 lead until halftime. He led the team with 13 points, but Washington, Gafford and Irving all scored in double figures. After scoring 24 points in the first quarter, Edwards went scoreless in the second quarter and attempted just one shot.

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Doncic came out of the locker room early in the second half, but Minnesota scored the first ten points and took a 69-61 lead before Coach Kidd called a timeout. But a couple of threes from PJ Washington and Kyrie Irving and then an Irving leak out cut the lead back to two. Irving put them back in front with a step-in three.

Minnesota was ice cold in the middle of the period and had an 1/8 stretch that allowed Dallas to score seven points after Quentin Grimes' second three-pointer of the night. After Minnesota's free throws, he scored three more times, giving the Mavs their largest lead of the night – eight. Another three-pointer from Kyrie Irving extended the lead to 11. At the start of the fourth period, Dallas had taken a commanding lead of 93-82.

Naz Reid and Luka Doncic exchanged balls at the start of the fourth quarter. Minnesota began to chip away at the lead with Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jaden McDaniels hitting threes to cut the lead to five, but Kyrie Irving did a great job of keeping the offense going.

With five minutes left, Dallas was ahead by five. Alexander-Walker hit a running bench shot to cut the lead to three, but was answered with a tough layup on the other end by Irving. When McDaniels broke through for a wide-open layup, the Mavs forced a timeout with four minutes left. After the timeout, they released Washington for a wide-open lob, and Minnesota called a timeout soon after to take the lead in the final three minutes of the game.

Rudy Gobert cut the lead to two with free throws, but Kyrie Irving felt the effects and hit a three-pointer over Randle to cut the lead to five. A few possessions later, the referees missed PJ Washington going out of bounds on an offensive rebound, which led to Luka Doncic hitting a BOMB from three yards out behind the three-point line, bringing the lead to within just over one Minute increased again to eight. This was his first and only three times in the night.

Anthony Edwards hit a big three-pointer to cut the lead to four in the final 30 seconds, and Kyrie Irving missed both free throws to make the game interesting, but Naji Marshall picked Edwards' pocket and hit both free throws on the other side to apply pressure with 12.6 seconds left the lead was back to six. That would be enough for Dallas to win 120-114 and move to 3-1 on the season.

Three-point defense and free throw rebounding were the biggest concerns for Dallas in this game. Minnesota was red-hot from deep all game, finishing 19/39 from behind the arc, and the Mavs allowed at least three offensive rebounds from missed free throws, and that almost always leads to points.

The biggest difference in the game was the turnovers, as Minnesota converted 20 times, while Dallas converted 9. In the second half alone the score was 10:1, Dallas had the lead.

Kyrie Irving led the Mavericks with 35 points, and after struggling in the first half, Doncic bounced back a bit and finished with 24 points while adding eight rebounds and nine assists. PJ Washington (17 points, eight rebounds) and Daniel Gafford (14 points) also finished in double figures, with Dereck Lively II contributing nine rebounds and three steals.

Minnesota was led by Anthony Edwards with 37 points, cooling off after his hot first quarter. The Timberwolves had four other players also score in double figures to help him: Julius Randle (20 points), Naz Reid (14), Jaden McDaniels (13) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (11).

The Mavericks return home to play the Rockets on Thursday night.

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