Anthony Edwards“An inspiring positivity and admirable confidence – even in the face of insurmountable obstacles – have helped the Minnesota Timberwolves win at least one victory in the Western Conference finals.
Edwards’ attitude even rubbed off on Timberwolves All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, who struggled offensively in the first three games of the series but came through in Game 4.
Edwards, Towns and Timberwolves avoid sweep against The Dallas Mavericks with a 105-100 victory during Game 4 on Tuesday night.
Edwards scored 29 points, had 10 rebounds and nine assists, while Towns scored 25 points.
The Timberwolves are 3-0 in 2024 playoff games.
“We’ve been a resilient team all year,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said. “We’ve never lost three in a row coming into the playoffs, and we’ve never lost four in a row. The guys come through. They’re a fun team to coach because they believe they can always win no matter what.”
Game 5 will be played Thursday in Minneapoliswhere the Mavs have won the first two games of the series. If Minnesota can win the series 3-2, it will put pressure on Dallas to finish the series at home in Game 6, as they don’t want to play a Game 7 on the road.
Getting there is a real challenge. No team has ever come back from 3-0 down to win an NBA playoff series, and only four of those 3-0 down teams have forced a Game 7.
That won’t change Edwards’ mindset. “What am I supposed to say?” Edwards said. “I’m supposed to say we’re going to lose Game 5? No, I’m never going to say that.”
It wasn’t a perfect game for the Timberwolves, whose 15 turnovers allowed Dallas to score 30 points. But Towns had his best game of the series, even though he fouled out and picked up his fifth foul in the third quarter. He entered Game 4 shooting just 27.8 percent from the field and 13.6 percent from three-point range, but he went 9 of 13 and 4 of 5 in the win. Towns scored 20 points in the second half: 10 in the third and 10 in the fourth.
“KAT is a great player,” Finch said. “His struggles weren’t going to last forever. He got going even when he got fouled. We left him on the court. I was going to take him out at one point, and then I think he got fouled, so we left him on the court anyway. We let him play. He played smart, played under control, rebounded really well for us, executed, defensively. We’re really proud of him. He’s been a big part of every series so far, and we knew we had to get him in this series and tonight was a big step in that.”
The Timberwolves shot 52.7 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from three-point range. When those shots are made, a player and a team look much better.
The Timberwolves held the lead late in the fourth quarter, something they had failed to do in the first three series. A three-pointer by Towns extended Minnesota’s lead to 98-92 with 2:54 left in the fourth quarter, and Edwards hit a three-pointer with 39.7 seconds left to give the Timberwolves a 102-97 lead.
Minnesota, which had the No. 1 defense in the regular season, held the Mavs to 42 percent shooting and 35 percent from three-point range. All-NBA point guard Luka Doncic had a triple-double (28 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists) for the Mavs, who were without injured All-Rookie center Dereck Lively II (neck sprain).
This article was originally published on USA TODAY: NBA Playoffs: Minnesota Timberwolves beat Dallas Mavericks in Game 4
