The Western Conference finals will see a fifth game after the Minnesota Timberwolves avoided becoming the 16th team out of 21 to get swept after losing the first three games of a series that started at home on Tuesday night with a 105-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Minnesota once again found themselves with the lead with under five minutes to play in the fourth quarter. In fact, the Wolves had led with under five minutes left in each of the three previous games, losing all three.
Tuesday night was different.
Anthony Edwards finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists while Karl-Anthony Towns hit four of his five shots from three-point range, finishing with 25 points in what was his best shooting performance of the series.
"[Towns] was shot ready, got himself going by going to the hoop, and played quick off the catch," said Wolves head coach Chris Finch. "He stayed confident and didn't really look much for his three until the second half. Ant did a really good job of finding him."
For Dallas, it was Luka Doncic who filled the stat sheet once again with 28 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists in what proved to be his sixth triple-double of these NBA Playoffs.
"We just gotta keep battling them," Finch said of Doncic and Kyrie Irving, who finished with 16 points.
Minnesota found the lead late as Towns buried a three with just under six-minutes to play in the fourth quarter. He went on to hit two more threes including one to put Minnesota up by six with around three minutes left.
Towns fouled out just moments later.
“We weathered a lot of foul trouble out there, which was frustrating to say the least,” Finch said. “Credit to our guys. They found a way to win the game. It was a lot like Games 1 and 2, and we were able to get it done tonight.”
The series now goes back to downtown Minneapolis as the Wolves will host the Mavericks on Thursday night.
Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.