DALLAS– Karl-Anthony Towns finally found his groove, and the Timberwolves finally closed out a game in the Western Conference Finals.
Now they head back to Minnesota to see if they can make things even more interesting against Dallas.
Towns scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half and the Wolves defeated the Mavericks 105-100 on Tuesday night to avoid a sweep.
Anthony Edwards had 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as the Wolves stayed alive for their first trip to the conference finals in 20 years, and just their second in the franchise’s 35 seasons. Game 5 is Thursday night.
Towns, who shot 28% from the field on the following series, made 9 of 13 shots from the field, including four of five from 3-point range. And that was after committing his fifth foul midway through the third quarter.
“Being aggressive,” Towns said. “It’s not time to have doubts, especially at this moment, it’s game 4, losing 3-0. There’s no time to have doubts.
Luka Doncic had 28 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for his sixth triple-double of these playoffs, but he and teammate Kyrie Irving shot just 13 of 39 from the field. Irving, who was 14-0 for his career in the final games, hit just one of six from long range and finished with 16 points.
“This game is on me. It just didn’t have enough energy,” said Doncic, who made 7 of 21 shots from the field, including 1 of 5 in the fourth when he and Irving combined as closers to build a big series lead. “They won a game. We just have to focus on what’s next.”
The Wolves have led in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter of every game in the series and this time they finished.
Towns put the Wolves ahead for good with a 3-pointer with 5:41 left, then hit another from deep the next time around. His third 3 in the final quarter put Minnesota up six with three minutes remaining.
“He was super confident,” Edwards said. “He wasn’t worried about any shots prior to the ones he hit tonight. He played exceptionally well.”
Edwards put the Wolves up five with a jumper from just inside the arc with 39 seconds remaining, and Minnesota held firm despite Edwards fouling Doncic on a 3-pointer to give Dallas a three-point deficit at 12. seconds to go.
Doncic missed the free throw and Naz Reid hit a bucket to increase the margin to five with 11 seconds remaining.
“It’s hard to close out in this league,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said after his team shot 29% from 3 in the second half. “Understanding that we didn’t play our best. Give Minnesota credit. They did.”
The biggest sign of Towns’ pace came in the third, when he scored 10 points in the first seven minutes before committing his fifth foul for elbowing P.J. Washington Jr. in the face.
The call against Towns led to a technical foul against Minnesota coach Chris Finch on the second line, where he has been confined since the start of the second round of the playoffs because of a knee injury that required surgery. Assistant Micah Nori has been roaming behind the scenes.
Finch flirted with a second technical, which would have meant a sending off, just minutes later when Edwards was picked up for his fourth foul when stealing against Daniel Gafford.
“Having him on the sideline but behind the bench most of the playoffs, you forget what an impact he can have,” said Mike Conley, who scored 14 points. “When your coach is getting techniques and yelling and you see him limping to do it, it’s impressive. It lit a fire in all of us.”
Towns fouled out in the final two minutes, while Edwards and Rudy Gobert, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds, finished with five each.
“We faced a lot of issues 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 very similar to Games 1 and 2, and we were able to finish it tonight.”
Wolves avoided becoming the 16th team of 21 to be swept after losing the first three games of a series that started at home. Now they will try to be just the fourth to force at least six games.
Jaden Hardy scored 10 of his 13 points in a 3:38 stretch that fell on the first bucket of the fourth quarter, a corner 3 that pulled Dallas within two. Four of the game’s 11 lead changes came in the fourth.
The Mavs were without rookie center Dereck Lively II, who injured his neck when Towns accidentally kneed him in the back of the head in Game 3.
Maxi Kleber, who has been out since May 3 with a separated shoulder, returned to give Dallas another option inside. But Daniel Gafford was without his regular tag team partner as a rim protector at center, and the Wolves shot a series-best 53% from the field.
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