MINNEAPOLIS – All the greats seem to have that magnetism in clutch situations. They become one with the ball, one with the moment, almost freezing everyone in a building to shape the game to their will.
It didn’t matter if it was Defensive Player of the Year defending Luka Dončić, or any other defeated defender. Sometimes things seem to happen in slow motion and everyone else is powerless to stop them.
Dončić is used to silence in crazy moments, drawn to the feeling of a stunned arena, drawn to building Luka’s legend, shot by shot.
“I knew this shit was good. I knew it was good. The way it came out of his hands,” Dallas Mavericks rookie Dereck Lively II said.
“I know exactly what he was thinking, so it was time to get ready for the magic to happen,” Mavs guard Kyrie Irving said.
“We talked about taking both, we only lost two, but when he started dancing with [Rudy] Gobert, you could see the setback was coming, and the rest is history,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said.
Lively II set the canvas to create the change to take Timberwolves winger Jaden McDaniels away from Dončić. Irving’s shooting ability had to be respected, so that Dončić could have space to work. Kidd scored the play for Dončić, but left his wizard to his own devices.
Everyone contributed to Dončić’s signature moment, as his 3-pointer on Friday night with 3.0 seconds remaining lifted the Dallas Mavericks to yet another road win in the Western Conference Finals, taking a 2-0 lead to Dallas with a 109-108 win at Destiny Center.
Even Gobert took advantage of the moment, allowing Dončić to lure him to the basket but changing course for that signature step back.
“We activated the pick-and-roll,” Gobert said. “I was in iso. He landed a big hit. I let my team down on the last play. They believed in me to get a stop and he scored 3.”
Honestly, as defenseless as Gobert was, it could have been anyone wearing a Timberwolves jersey, or any kind of jersey at all – Dončić apparently has some kind of brush with history, and nothing was going to stop the inevitable tonight.
“I didn’t decide before the game, I just took advantage of what the defense gave me,” said Dončić. “We were just going to play pick-and-roll and figure it out from there.”
Dončić, quite demure after the game, was anything but on the floor – shouting an expletive at Gobert and then taunting the crowd after Naz Reid’s final 3-pointer was made, another moment frozen in time considering Reid made seven baskets 3-pointer and scored a team-record 23 points to nearly keep the Timberwolves from turning it over.
“I don’t know what I was thinking. I almost passed out,” Dončić said of Reid’s shot toward the rim.
The result was a frantic 99 seconds in, as the Timberwolves held a 108-103 lead. But Irving hit a 3-pointer, then forced a turnover on McDaniels after a referee’s review, followed by another turnover on Minnesota, setting up Dončić’s momentum.
Dončić recalled his game-winning drive in the Orlando bubble against the Clippers and also his buzzer-beater tilt at Memphis the following season — both to empty crowds in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He created a similar sound, this time in front of a raucous crowd at Target Center, in a moment that felt unbelievable and inevitable at the same time. It was the end of a 32-point, 13-assist, 10-rebound performance from the man who was constantly in the conversation as the best player in the world.
It was almost as if Dončić had been preparing for that moment all game long, even as Dallas seemed content to steal a road game and claim home-field advantage with a Game 1 win.
Trailing by 18, Dončić kept working the game, playing the chess match between himself and the big Timberwolves protecting the basket, and kept manipulating the coverages with his eyes – so someone like Lively can make all six of her field goals, almost all courtesy of Dončić’s feeds.
The same goes for center Daniel Gafford, who shot 8 of 10 from the field.
The Mavericks are two games away from the NBA Finals – the first time they’ve been able to make such a claim since their surprising 2011 playoff adventure – because they play with equal parts poise and urgency.
And the more you watch them, the more Luka’s magic becomes obvious. It’s almost irresistible to call them today’s team. In the first round, the Mavs beat the Clippers, a team with urgency but a lot of age. In the last round, they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team with youth and energy, but a team for tomorrow. Now, they’re facing a mix of both in the Timberwolves, but they’re simply outplaying them, outplaying them, and recognizing the opportunity of today, not tomorrow.
“Just the confidence and calmness of the group,” Kidd said. “We could have gotten on the bus after Kai missed both free throws. But, we believe in our defense, we made saves. Give a lot of credit to our bench by giving energy in a positive way.”
Irving switched roles with Dončić in Game 1. Dončić scored 15 in the fourth after Irving started them. On Friday, it was Irving who was on fire, hitting four triples in the fourth quarter for 13 points but shockingly missing three of four free throws in the final minutes.
“I don’t want to get fined, but I was like, ‘Holy God, what the hell is going on?” said Irving with a laugh. “A lot of emotions went through my head, a brief moment of disappointment. The fans were going crazy. I guess they got free chicken, right?
That’s all fans would leave the arena with, however.
Normally, such fervor would spell doom for a visiting team in such circumstances, but with the Timberwolves, they are at an altitude more than a kilometer from the last round and have yet to catch their breath.
The Mavericks are frustrating Anthony Edwards as the 22-year-old shows his age. In two games, he shot 11 of 33 and couldn’t enter the lane without seeing a sea of bodies waiting for him.
The Mavericks’ lob play also sent Karl-Anthony Towns off the court in the final eight minutes. Towns struggled on both ends, going 4 of 16 in 25 minutes and prompting Timberwolves coach Chris Finch to call on Reid, the league’s best sixth man, to attack — and he delivered.
But these games are rarely decided by the players. It is the stars that usually show the difference between star and superstar, superstar and supernova.
Dallas has a blazing supernova, which exploded once again with a violent blast in the Minneapolis sky, falling like purple rain.
