Minnesota Timberwolves vs Dallas Mavericks
The Timberwolves lost their home court advantage to the Mavericks after losing Game 1 of their best-of-seven NBA Western Conference Finals series on Wednesday, so there’s a huge sense of urgency for them to bounce back and win Game 2 on Friday.
The Chris Finch-coached side cannot afford to go down 0-2 by losing back-to-back games at home, especially since that’s what gave them an early edge against the Nuggets in the previous round.
On the other hand, the Game 1 victory was the first such win for the Mavericks in this year’s playoffs, and stealing another game in Minnesota is going to tilt the odds in their favour.
Talking Points
Doncic-Irving duo clicking for the Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks have made it this far because Luka Doncic now has the luxury of being paired with another superstar, Kyrie Irving, and that was the case in Game 1 against the Timberwolves.
As Doncic struggled on offence for the first 36 minutes, Irving kept the Mavericks afloat by recording 24 of his 30 points in the first half. During that stretch, Doncic, who has been dealing with a sprained knee since the first round and was heavily guarded, missed 12 of his first 19 shot attempts.
But then, when Doncic was ramping up, the Slovenian superstar took over as the team’s closer, scoring 15 of his 33 points in the final frame.
Luka Doncic also made a couple of key defencive stops, stealing the ball from Jaden McDaniels, which resulted in PJ Washington’s corner three that gave the Mavericks the lead for good with 1:56 remaining. And he also picked off an alley-oop pass to Rudy Gobert a few plays later.
In the end, Kyrie Irving had 30 points, five rebounds, and four assists, while Luka Doncic finished with a game-high 33 points, six rebounds, eight assists, and three steals on 12-of-26 shooting from the field.
They became the first duo in NBA history to each score at least 30 points in the opening game of a series twice in the same playoff run, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Minnesota Timberwolves were out-executed, outhustled
Anthony Edwards admitted after Game 1 that fatigue played a factor in their loss on Wednesday, as they were coming off a brutal seven-game series against the former champions, the Nuggets.
And the numbers don’t lie, as they were outrebounded and outmuscled in the paint by the Mavericks. In Game 1, the Mavericks had a 48-40 rebounding edge and a whopping 62-38 advantage in points in the paint.
Edwards flirted with a triple-double, with 19 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, two steals, and five three-pointers, but he only shot 6-of-16 from the field. Meanwhile, Karl-Anthony Towns also struggled on the offencive end, going 6-of-20 from the field en route to 16 points.
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said after Game 1 that the Timberwolves lacked composure late, as they committed five of their 10 turnovers in the fourth quarter.
Despite this, Mike Conley had a golden opportunity for the Timberwolves when he was fouled from beyond the arc with 1.8 seconds left. If Conley would’ve made the first two free throws and purposely missed the third for a possible putback, the Timberwolves would’ve sent the game to overtime.
History
Prior to the 2023-24 Western Conference Finals, the Timberwolves and the Mavericks previously met in the first round of the 2001-02 playoffs, where the latter won via a three-game sweep in the best-of-five series. The biggest player matchup back then was the one between Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki.
Since then, the Timberwolves only made the Western Conference Finals once (in 2004), while the Mavericks have fared better, as they eventually went all the way in 2010-11, beating the vaunted Heat squad of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade.
The Mavericks’ last WCF appearance was in 2021-22, where they lost to the Warriors in five games.
What are the odds?
SBOTOP basketball fans expect a long series between the Timberwolves and the Mavericks, and that’s what we’re likely to get, especially if the hosts win on Friday.
According to the NBA 2024 odds, the Timberwolves are the favoured side in the Asian Handicap market, with bets like -6.00 at 2.06 and -5.50 at 1.98 both on offer.
Playoff games tend to be more low-scoring than usual. But at least in Game 2, we’re going to get our healthy dose of NBA 2024 highlights from the Timberwolves and the Mavericks, making Over 208.00 at 2.01 and Over 207.50 at 1.93 some of the best bets out there.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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