MINNEAPOLIS — On opening night of the Western Conference finals at the Target Center on Wednesday, the Mavs’ stars decided to switch it up a little. Instead of Luka Doncic early and Kyrie Irving late, they flip-flopped their usual roles.
Not that it made any difference to Chris Finch.
“Luka and Kyrie, still,” the Wolves’ coach said.
One superstar or another, it was at least one too many for Minnesota in the Mavs’ 108-105 win as the pair combined for 63 points, making a loud opening statement against the No. 3 seed in their very own loud house.
For the first time in these playoffs, the Mavs came out in a Game 1 at their best, or at least as close they’re likely to come against the league’s No. 1 defense, which boasts a first-team All-Defensive player in Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels, good enough for second team.
Sure, you could ask for better touch on 3s than six of 25. On the other hand, P.J. Washington’s clutch 3 from the corner with 1:56 left gave the Mavs the lead for good.
From that point on, it was simply a matter of keeping the Wolves’ best players from taking over the game, as had been the case all night.
Reports of an impregnable wall in Minnesota’s interior were exaggerated. The Mavs outrebounded the taller Wolves, 48-40, and dominated them in the paint, 62-38. Beat ‘em in blocks, too, 8-3.
Meanwhile, the Mavs’ defense kept Karl Anthony-Towns (16 points, 2 of 9 from 3) and Anthony Edwards (19 points, 6 of 16 from the field) in check. McDaniels hurt the Mavs in the first half, making his first five shots, including 4 of 4 from 3-point range. But the visitors adjusted in the second, rendering McDaniels moot.
The Wolves will rue several missed chances late, but there may have been no bigger mistake than missing an opportunity to foul Derrick Jones Jr. with seven seconds left and fouling Irving instead. He made both free throws to give the Mavs a four-point, insurmountable lead.
The Wolves looked a little tentative in their first conference finals appearance in 20 years. The Mavs’ experience from 2022 might have played a factor.
Probably a bigger one that they can fall back on two superstars.
On the day Luka was named first-team All-NBA for the fifth straight year, giving him one more than Dirk Nowitzki for the team record, he played up to it late. He picked up where Irving left off in the first half.
“Just being able to see how locked in he was from the jump,” said Dereck Lively II, who held his own just fine Gobert, “it made everybody else step up.
“Give him the ball and get out of the way. In Kyrie we trust.”
Maybe the early outburst was Irving’s response to Edwards telling a teammate he’d take him on defense.
Maybe it was the Chief Hela shoes.
Irving debuted his new kicks -- fringe, no less -- and no doubt sold a few in the process. His assertiveness early, Jason Kidd said, helped the other players relax a little on offense. Which is the point of superstars in the first place. Nice to make sure everyone’s included, but, in clutch moments of big games, they pay superstars big money for a reason.
Irving scored 24 points in the first half, mostly on slicing, whirling drives and pull-ups that kept the Wolves on their heels. He hadn’t scored that many points in an entire game since Game 3 of the first round. Twenty-four points was more than he’d scored in Games 4 and 5 of the semis combined.
Instead of patiently waiting until the second half in his self-appointed role as the Mavs’ closer, he probed the Wolves’ top-ranked defense early and often. The Mavs needed it. Unlike the semis against the Thunder, the support personnel provided little support Wednesday. Oklahoma City targeted Luka and Irving, forcing someone else to beat them, and Washington and Jones did just that. But the Mavs’ defensive aces reverted to their ancillary roles Wednesday, at least until Washington’s 3 put them ahead late.
It was Irving who dazzled first, keeping the Wolves from running away in the first half. Holding a six-point lead in the waning moments and setting up for the last shot with five seconds left, the Wolves threw the ball away. Irving took a pass in the backcourt, drove the right side, drew the foul and made both the layup and free throw to cut Minnesota’s lead to 62-59.
From there, Luka took over, finishing with a game-high 33 points.
Looked like old times, if old, to you, is a month ago.
“The chemistry between those two guys looks like it’s at an all-time high right now,” Finch said.
“It looks like they’ve played together forever.”
A little more than a year, to be exact.
Jason Kidd can call on them any time he wants. Now they’ve stolen a game early on the road, and even if the lesson of the Western Conference semis is that everyone bounces back, the Mavs have struck first. A big upgrade over their Game 1 performances in the first two rounds. Not a bad start for a team that knows how to finish.
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