Luka Doncic had a good day on defense for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He dropped some ferocious taunts and 36 points as he led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals after just five games in the conference finals.
Dallas built an insurmountable 69-40 halftime lead that no one in Minnesota had any hope of regaining as the Mavericks advance to the finals for the first time since 2011 and only the third time in team history. They play against the Boston Celtics.
Doncic was dominant all night and he let the crowd know it – with cameras catching him shouting ‘Yeah, who’s crying motherf***er’ to someone in the crowd.
Kyrie Irving also scored 36 points for the Mavericks, who built a 29-point halftime lead on 61% shooting to deflate the once-energetic crowd before most fans got up for their first snack break.
The Mavs went up by as many as 36 points in the third quarter as they held off the Timberwolves offense.
Luka Doncic took home the Western Conference Finals MVP award after Dallas advanced
Thanks to Doncic’s dominance, Dallas is heading to the NBA Finals to play the Boston Celtics
WARNING: CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
The Mavs, who were the fifth seed in the West, have a full week to rest before the NBA Finals begin June 6 in Boston for the franchise’s first appearance since winning the championship in 2011.
The Celtics have had 10 days between games after beating Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals.
Anthony Edwards scored 28 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 12 rebounds for the third-seeded Wolves, who met their matchup with the defensive duo of Doncic and Irving after stifling Phoenix in a first-round upset and then dethroning the defense. champion Denver in a seven-game series.
Irving improved to 15-1 in his career in closeout games in the playoffs.
Doncic set a defiant tone by starting 4 for 4 and hitting rainbows from 28 and 31 feet as he turned to talk trash to the field fans with every swing, often with a sly smile.
He drained a 32-footer later in the first quarter as the Mavs closed on a 17-1 spurt, a run that pushed them to 28-5 in nine minutes.
It was Doncic’s second 20-point quarter of his postseason career, following a 21-point fourth quarter in the 2022 Western Conference finals loss to Golden State.
Doncic, who shot 14 for 22 and grabbed 10 rebounds, and his savvy sidekick Irving, who has had a championship ring with Cleveland since 2016, were the superior stars in this series as this Wolves team found its first taste of a sustained postseason run. a bitter – but perhaps ultimately salutary – situation.
Dallas guard Luka Doncic (77) celebrates his score as Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, left, looks on during the first half of Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals
Dallas Mavericks players celebrate in the locker room after reaching the NBA Finals
Although he waved his arms confidently and persistently at the officials almost every time the whistle went wrong, the 25-year-old Doncic played with unwavering confidence and unflappable joy from start to finish.
While he was taunted by the fans with a “Flopper!” chant as he shot free throws in the third quarter, Doncic smiled and mockingly said the words along with them.
Edwards, despite reaching the 25-point mark for the 15th time in 27 career playoff games, struggled to find his rhythm among all the doubles teams.
Wolves, for all their progress this season, were reminded that they are yet to mount a championship attack despite his dynamic skills and clutch mentality.
They had several hair-raising possessions in the decisive first half, with the coaches struggling to find a group that could play in sync with each other.
As the final seconds of the second quarter ticked away, Edwards drove down the lane and kicked the ball to the corner to Kyle Anderson, who swung the ball back to Towns on the wing and failed to find a look he liked.
Luka Doncic looks on late in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals in Minnesota
He went back to Anderson, who tried to close and let the shot clock run out on him.
PJ Washington, who had 12 points, flexed his arms to celebrate yet another suffocating Mavs defensive run.
The Mavs got back 7-foot-1 rookie Dereck Lively II from the sprained neck that kept him out of the previous game, restoring the complete rim protection duo with Daniel Gafford, allowing them to disrupt Rudy Gobert in the post and just about anyone else trying to attack the basket.
Gafford had 11 points and nine rebounds, and Lively added nine points and eight rebounds.