Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Karl-Anthony Towns looked around, smiled briefly, and for a moment, appeared to take-in the Target Center atmosphere just before tipoff Wednesday in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks, who in the end, would be left standing on the floor celebrating their 108-105 win and 1-0 series lead.
The Timberwolves started strong thanks to Jaden McDaniels, who recorded his third straight 20-plus point game with 24 points. Meanwhile, Dallas got two big boosts from both Kyrie Irving, who scored 24 of his 30 points in the first half, and Luka Doncic who had 15 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter.
"We would probably be down 20 if [Kyrie Irving] wouldn't have scored that many points," Doncic said after the game. "So I appreciate him keeping us in the game."
Anthony Edwards finished with 19 points and didn't score in the third quarter. Towns used a second-half burst to finish with 16 points while Rudy Gobert added 12.
Naz Reid scored 15 while Kyle Anderson poured-in 11 off the bench.
"We came out flat today," Edwards said. "We found our energy and then we went back to being flat. It was just on us. Everything was on us today. I didn't get downhill as much. Just stuff like that. We were just a little tired, probably."
Minnesota hosts Game Two on Friday night.
"We haven't really closed quarters or halves very well over the last handful of games," Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said. "It cost us one game in the Denver series and it certainly had an impact on tonight's game. We certainly have to be better in clutch moments."
Wednesday's win marked the first time that the Mavericks won the first game of a playoff series under coach Jason Kidd.