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NBA: Playoffs-Dallas Mavericks at Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota had the best defense in the NBA this season and it has been even better in the playoffs.
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are the cheat code to any defense.
Irving dominated the first half and kept Dallas in it with 24 of his 30 points before the break. Then, in the fourth quarter, Doncic took over with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, a couple of key 3-pointers, and a defensive breakup of an alley-oop. He took over.
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving took turns getting BUCKETS to steal Game 1 of the West Finals in Minnesota!
Doncic: 33 PTS, 8 AST, 6 REB
Irving: 30 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST
Game 2: Friday, 8:30pm/et on TNT pic.twitter.com/64lkRec7Gj
— NBA (@NBA) May 23, 2024
It was enough to get Dallas a close win on the road, 108-105. The Mavericks are now up 1-0 in the series with Game 2 on Friday night.
Dallas not just because of their stars but because as a team they tried to get downhill — the Mavericks had a 62-38 advantage in points in the paint. Minnesota took 49 3-pointers, way up from their 32.7 a game regular season average, but they hit 18 of them (36.7%) and postgame coach Chris Finch said he thought most of them were good looks.
This was supposed to be a defensive series but it didn’t feel like that in the first half.
The Timberwolves defense focused on Doncic in the first 24 minutes—he had 14 points but needed 14 shots to get there—but that opened up a lane for Irving, and he drove right through it. Irving had 24 first-half points on 11-of-14 shooting, including an and-1 in the final seconds, that kept the Mavericks within three at the half, 62-59.
With Irving hot the Timberwolves switched McDaniels onto him, but that put Edwards on Doncic — and Doncic went right at him. First, Doncic bullied Ant into the low block for an and-1, then spun off him for a layup the next time down. That’s the challenge in covering Dallas.
Minnesota led at the half not because of their stars (although Edwards had 13 points and eight rebounds) but because the team knocked down 11 3-pointers (shooting 44% from deep), while Dallas was 2-of-13 from beyond the arc (15.4%). The…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/irving-dominates-first-half-doncic-034006312.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-05-23 03:40:06
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