Irving dominates first half, Doncic takes over fourth, Dallas steals Game 1 in Minnesota

Minnesota had the best defense in the NBA this season and it has been even better in the playoffs.

Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are the cheat code to any defense.

Irving dominated the first half and kept Dallas in it with 24 of his 30 points before the break. Then, in the fourth quarter, Doncic took over with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, a couple of key 3-pointers, and a defensive breakup of an alley-oop. He took over.

It was enough to get Dallas a close win on the road, 108-105. The Mavericks are now up 1-0 in the series with Game 2 on Friday night.

Dallas not just because of their stars but because as a team they tried to get downhill — the Mavericks had a 62-38 advantage in points in the paint. Minnesota took 49 3-pointers, way up from their 32.7 a game regular season average, but they hit 18 of them (36.7%) and postgame coach Chris Finch said he thought most of them were good looks.

This was supposed to be a defensive series but it didn't feel like that in the first half.

The Timberwolves defense focused on Doncic in the first 24 minutes—he had 14 points but needed 14 shots to get there—but that opened up a lane for Irving, and he drove right through it. Irving had 24 first-half points on 11-of-14 shooting, including an and-1 in the final seconds, that kept the Mavericks within three at the half, 62-59.

With Irving hot the Timberwolves switched McDaniels onto him, but that put Edwards on Doncic — and Doncic went right at him. First, Doncic bullied Ant into the low block for an and-1, then spun off him for a layup the next time down. That's the challenge in covering Dallas.

Minnesota led at the half not because of their stars (although Edwards had 13 points and eight rebounds) but because the team knocked down 11 3-pointers (shooting 44% from deep), while Dallas was 2-of-13 from beyond the arc (15.4%). The Timberwolves also got 19 points from Jaden McDaniels, who was 5-of-6 from deep. Then there was Kyle Anderson, who came off the bench — Dallas dared Slo-Mo to shoot so he did, hitting 5-of-8 for 11 points in the first half.

The second half of this game was much more defensive, with neither team breaking 50 points. There were runs — the teams had matching 13-0 runs in the fourth quarter — but it was more of a grinding game. That worked for Dallas.

Doncic finished with 33 points and eight assists. P.J. Washington had 13 points and a clutch late 3, and Daniel Gafford had 10. Gafford and Dereck Lively II played strong defense inside.

This was not Anthony Edwards night as he finished with 19 points on 6-of-16 shooting and he couldn't get rolling against the Dallas defense. Jaden McDaniels led the team with 24 points and Karl-Anthony Towns, who had some clutch buckets, had 16 points on 20 shots. Naz Reid played well with 15 off the bench.