Dončić buries game-winning three-pointer as Mavs stun Timberwolves, 109-108

MINNEAPOLIS – Luka Dončić worked his exceptional magic again.

With the Dallas Mavericks down two points and the game about to come to a close, Dončić decided to let the Minnesota Timberwolves decide how Friday night’s epic contest was going to end.

As it turned out, Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert – a defensive wizard — switched onto Dončić on a high pick-and-roll in the waning seconds. However, a few exhilarating seconds later, Dončić magically drilled an eye-popping three-pointer right over the outstretched hands of the 7-1 Gobert with just three seconds left and the Mavs ran out of Target Center with an electrifying 109-108 victory.

In rallying from an 18-point deficit, the win gave the Mavs a commanding 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series. In the history of the NBA, teams that emerge victorious in the opening two games of a best-of-seven series go on to win that series 92.5 percent of the time.

The series now moves to Dallas for the next two games, where the Mavs can close it out and advance to the NBA Finals for the third time in franchise history. Game 3 is Sunday at 7 p.m. and Game 4 is Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Known as a very clutch player throughout his career, Dončić got the ball with 12.8 seconds remaining following a turnover by Anthony Edwards with Minnesota ahead, 108-106. After surveying the landscape, Dončić was weaving back-and-forth near the top of the key, and Gobert appeared to be on skates trying to keep up with him.

Then, Dončić launched a high-arching three-pointer over the four-time Defensive Player of the Year and when it nestled through the nets, the air nearly was sucked out of the arena.

“I didn’t decide what I’m going to look (for) before the play,” said Dončić, who has a long-standing feud with Gobert. “I’ll just see what the defense gives me.

“I didn’t expect they were going to switch. We were just going to play that pick-and-roll and we’ll just figure out from there. That’s about it.”

Mavs coach Jason Kidd knew exactly what was going to happen on his team’s final play. Well, he sort of knew.

“The play was to get Luka the ball and let Luka do what Luka does in those moments,” Kidd said. “We talked about taking the two – we were only down two.

“But when (Dončić) got to dancing with Gobert, you could see that the step-back (three-pointer) was coming, and the rest was history.”

That step-back three-pointer completed a glorious night where Dončić collected 32 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists while registering his fourth triple-double in the last five games. The only other players in the history of the NBA to pick up four triple-doubles in a five-game span in the playoffs are Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and Nikola Jokic.

The heroics by Dončić aside, the Mavs admit a lot had to go right for them down the stretch in order for them to secure this victory. They also had to overcome an unusual set of circumstances that saw Kyrie Irving – with Minnesota ahead, 106-103 – miss a pair of free throws with 1:44 left.

Edwards then knocked down a couple of charity tosses to give the Timberwolves a 108-103 lead with 1:29 remaining in the game. Irving, though, responded with a cold-blooded three-pointer to get Dallas within 108-106 of Minnesota with 1:05 left.

And not long after that, Edwards produced the critical turnover which led to the game-winning three-pointer by Dončić.

“I don’t want to get fined, but (after the two missed free throws) I was like, ‘Holy, gosh, what the heck is going on?,’ “ Irving rhetorically asked. “A lot of emotions were going through my head and it’s a brief moment of disappointment. The fans are going crazy. I think they got a free chicken.

“When I missed it I think I was as surprised as a lot of people in the arena. But in those moments I’ve got to stay focused and be aware of just how much it means to our team to make those. The next-play mentality was the only thing I could carry forth, and I got in that corner and knocked down (a three-pointer). It felt good to be able to make those plays up.”

It all capped a night where the Mavs struggled in the first half and saw themselves down, 58-40, with under four minutes remaining in the second quarter. But after a halftime meeting with Kidd – the Mavs trailed, 60-48, at intermission – Dallas finally got its mojo back in the second half.

“We had a good talk at halftime and the guys worked the game and then we found ourselves in the game,” Kidd said. “We made it a little harder with missed free throws.

“We were competing, but Minnesota is a really good team (and) well-coached. They came out and they were aggressive.”

Minnesota backup center Naz Reid gave the Mavs the most problems. Reid kept firing in three-pointers like they were layups.

Reid finished the night with a team-high 23 points and was 7-of-9 from three-point range. And when Reid was on a heater and suddenly found himself wide open from downtown with the game clock about to run out, all Dončić could do was:

“I wasn’t thinking,” Dončić said. “I almost passed out.”

Thankfully for the Mavs’ sake, Reid’s three-pointer slid off the back of the rim and fell harmlessly to the court as time expired.

“At some point we were down 18 on the road, which is insane to come back,” Doncic said. “But we believed until the end.”

Irving contributed 20 points and six assists for the Mavs, Daniel Gafford had 16 points, five rebounds and five blocks, Dereck Lively II picked up 14 points and nine boards, and P.J. Washington added 10 points, five rebounds and two blocks.

Other than Reid, Edwards finished with 21 points on 5-of-17 shots, and also had five rebounds and seven assists for Minnesota. In addition, Mike Conley collected 18 points, five rebounds and five assists, Gobert had 16 points and 10 boards, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 15 points and seven rebounds.

In the end, Dončić, who now has eight career playoff triple-doubles, left the sellout crowd of 19,636 stunned with the amazing shot that heavily tilted this series in favor of the Mavs.

“I just saw some space and decided to shoot a three,” Dončić said. “I got to my spots – the step-back – and that’s it.”

The Mavs shot 48.8 percent from the field, outrebounded the Timberwolves, 44-40, and also outscored them in the second half, 61-48. Minnesota made 41.2 percent of its field goals and both teams were 12-of-31 from the three-point line.

Yet it was the Mavs’ determination of not being happy with a split of the first two games on the road that carried them through the night.

“It was one of those wins where we can look back on and reflect and really be proud of ourselves,” said Irving, who scored 13 points in the fourth quarter. “The little things that it took to get this win tonight we can carry on to Game 3, but we also understand it’s no time to be satisfied. We got 40 minutes to celebrate and get on this plane and go back to Dallas and get ready for another hard-fought battle, because that team is not going to give up.

“We know exactly what they’re capable of. They’ve shown it in spurts throughout the first two games, and they’ve taken us down to the wire. We just got to be aware that there’s some luck involved, there’s some fortune involved, shots not going in for them down the stretch. But we felt like we did enough tonight to get this win.”

Thanks to that last-second shot by Dončić, the Mavs are just two wins away from reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since they won it all in 2011. And his incredible game-winner in Game 2 will certainly be remembered by Mavs’ fans for a long, long time.

“Once we got Luka the ball we wanted to give him space and let him do what he does,” Kidd said. “I thought he set (Gobert) up for the step-back because of him attacking the paint over and over, Rudy has to honor that.

“With Luka’s ability to create space in that moment, as you’ve seen with Luka, he loves that stage. He doesn’t run from it and he made a big shot. But again, Luka is special and he loves those type of moments.”

Overall, with the game on the line it was the NBA’s leading scorer this season in Dončić matched up against Gobert, who was recently crowned as this season’s Defensive Player of the Year. When it was all over, the better offensive player got the best of the better defensive player, who delivered a hard transition take foul on Dončić in the first half.

“(Dončić) got a great switch on Rudy and I knew exactly what he was thinking,” Irving said. “It was just time to get ready for the magic to happen.

“He got to his move, shot it with confidence as he always does, and he took us home tonight.”

X: @DwainPrice