The Dallas Mavericks have booked their place in the NBA Finals match, and simply had too much firepower for the Minnesota Timberwolves over five matches. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving stepped up when it mattered against a Timberwolves’ side left to lick their wounds after a sobering series defeat. Focus now turns to the NBA Finals series against the Boston Celtics, beginning on June 6.
Luka Doncic starred with a 36-point haul in a 124-103 Dallas Mavericks victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves to seal their place in the NBA finals.
The result gave the Mavs a 4-1 Western Conference finals victory, as Kyrie Irving also claimed 36 points on a memorable evening for Jason Kidd’s side.
Dallas never looked back after building up a 36-point lead in the third quarter to set up a tantalising clash with the Boston Celtics.
This will be the Mavericks’ first appearance in the NBA finals since 2011, when they won the only NBA Championship in franchise history, with Kidd playing point-guard.
“He [Doncic] let his teammates know that it’s time and they’ve got to take it up a notch,” said Kidd in quotes published by nba.com.
“He sent the invites out, and they all came.”
Meanwhile, Irving expressed his optimism that the side would get the job done on the night and added: “I just had that utmost confidence when I was going to sleep last night and went to shoot around this morning.
“I just had a feeling like we were going to play one of our best games.”
Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns both did their best to turn the tide in the Wolves’ favour with 28 points each, but their play-off journey ended here.
Edwards managed to surpass 25 points for the 15th time in 27 playoff appearances, although further questions will be asked of their attacking prowess following this result.
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Wolves coach Chris Finch reflected on the series, commented on how high the bar has been raised in the Western Conference and hailed “two world-class players” in Doncic and Irving.
“You can’t skip any steps,” he explained.
“The West is going to be a monster next year as it continues to be every year. There were a lot of things we did well this year.
“They won the series. They earned the series. They deserve the series. Congrats to them and their entire staff. They were led by two world-class players that played at a world-class level.”