MINNEAPOLIS – When last the Mavericks were in this building, they were swigging cold beers and hoisting the Western Conference championship trophy.
The atmosphere Tuesday night was different.
The result was not.
The Mavericks overcame a scary moment with Luka Dončić late in the first half, then asserted their will to grind out a 120-114 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.
Dončić, despite a leg issue that sent him to the locker room late in the first half, nailed a 32-foot three-pointer – he was 0-for-7 from long range to that point – and put the Mavericks up by eight with 1:04 to go, a lead they nursed to the finish line to move their record to 3-1.
“I don’t know how I can make those shots and not normal shots,” Dončić said. “I just got to get the rustiness out. And I’ll be back. We got a win and that’s all that matters.”
Throughout the Mavericks’ locker room postgame, there was no question in anybody’s mind that Dončić would nail the three-pointer that deflated the Wolves.
“We expected that one to go in,” Kyrie Irving said. “Those shots he shoots at the end of the game, he’s not particularly shooting well, but we know how competitive he is. When you got a guy like that, especially in the fourth quarter . . . I knew it was a great shot.”
Said coach Jason Kidd: “He hadn’t shot the ball well, maybe to his standards and then he gets hurt. He comes back and finds a way. When it comes to competition, there’s no one better. So he enjoyed being able to have that opportunity.
“When you look at Luka, we’ve seen this movie before and he loves the opportunity to win the game. He’s not scared and he stepped up and made a big shot.”
Luka would finish with 24 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, but it was Irving who was a savior for the Mavericks on this night with 35 points, 25 of them in the second half when Luka was somewhat off of his game after the injury.
“We have me, Klay (Thompson), Kai. Those two guys, anybody can take a shot,” Dončić said. “Sometimes they’re going to double us if somebody’s hot and in this situation, they doubled Kai, so I got the opportunity to shoot it. Got to say thank-you to Kai.”
Dončić left the game with 1:10 left in the second quarter when he got hit inadvertently in the back of the right leg by the knee of Jaden McDaniels. He quickly clutched the back of his right leg and asked to leave the game, limping toward the locker room.
It was a huge relief when he returned for warmups and started the third quarter.
While he clearly wasn’t in perfect form, Luka helped steady the Mavericks after they fell behind 69-61 early in the third quarter. They pulled ahead 80-73 late in the period.
That was part of a 27-8 blitz that put the Mavericks up 88-77 later in the quarter.
But things got tight down the stretch. The Wolves pulled within 109-107 with 3:04 left on two Rudy Gobert free throws.
Irving rescued them, as he had done much of the night, with a three-pointer for a five-point cushion. The teams exchanged buckets and, with 1:04 to go, Luka reared up from 32 feet and launched his game-clincher.
The game seemed to carry a bit more oomph because it was the first meeting between the two teams who vied for the conference title last season. The players could tell there was a more of an edge to the game.
“There’s nothing like being able to play against a team like this because you know where you need to be better,” Irving said. “Moving forward, we know we’re going to get everybody’s best shot, especially Minnesota or OKC or anybody we played on the way to the Western Conference championship.”
As Luka added: “We’re 3-1. We’re really not close to our highest level. Not even close. But our defense, outside of the Phoenix game was good.”
In the beginning, it seemed like the Timberwolves had their memories jogged about last season’s playoffs more than the Mavericks. Minnesota clearly were playing with anger in the first meeting between the two teams this season.
They knew that when Anthony Edwards drilled them for 24 first-quarter points.
“The way Anthony Edwards started the game, we could tell it was very personal for him,” Irving said. “So you got to dial in and be ready to take some hits. We were only down eight points after the first quarter, so we felt like we were in good position.”
The Mavericks weren’t quite as focused on the past.
“That was last year,” coach Jason Kidd said. “This is a different year. This is a different team. They’re a different team. The last time we were here, we became Western Conference champs, but this is a new season.”
And for Luka, it was like coming back to the scene of a crime. The fans in Minnesota are notoriously on his case throughout the game when the Mavericks play here.
Of course, that makes it sweet, too.
“I heard a lot of stuff,” Luka said. “They really like me here. Last year was fun. It was a big moment in my career and my life. So it was fun to be back here.”
So what do the Timberwolves remember most about the West Finals of last season?
“The 400 lob dunks come to mind,” coach Chris Finch said. “We know that with Luka and Kyrie, it takes a lot of mental toughness to play all the way through the game because they make you pay for every mistake as soon as it happens.
“Luka’s such a great player, makes everybody around him so much better.”
And because of Luka’s greatness, even when he was subpar physically, the results didn’t change from last spring.
X: @ESefko
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