By Rashad Miller, The Uncool Urban
The Dallas Mavericks returned to the American Airlines Center Sunday night to face the Minnesota Timberwolves in hopes of maintaining the momentum they had in Minneapolis. Two nights before, in Game 2 with a 2-0 start to the series on the line, Luka Dončić had the sports world buzzing after a three pointer over this season’s Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert in the last eight seconds of the contest.
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said after the Game 2 that the team didn’t play “Mavericks basketball”, but they would go back to the pace and spacing that the team and spectators are accustomed to seeing. Game 3 started with the Mavs creating space to shoot from the perimeter in the first half, with the team going 10-21 from three. That helped them go into the half leading Minnesota, 60-52.
Mavericks’ rookie center Dereck Lively II suffered a neck sprain after making contact with Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns in the second quarter and he is listed as probable for Game 4. Lively has averaged 9.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in the series. Another stat to note is his perfect 100 percent field goal percentage and from the free throw line.
The Timberwolves would come out in the second half swinging with Anthony Edwards scoring 10 points in the quarter going 5-10 from the field. The Mavericks made adjustments to bring the former Georgia Bulldog to just four points in the fourth quarter. The Mavs’ starting backcourt would go for a total of 21 points (Irving – 14, Dončić – 7) in the fourth.
Dončić would return to the bench with 33 points, 5 assists, and 7 rebounds but not before he embraced his father, Saša who was sitting courtside. The Mavericks would successfully defeat the Timberwolves, 116-107.
Kyrie Irving would also put up 33 points to go along with his four assists. This was the third time that Irving and Dončić has had at least 30 plus points this postseason and are the only duo to have multiple games this postseason where they’ve both had 30 points in the same game. This was the ninth time in Mavericks history that a pairing both had 30 points in the same game.
This is Irving’s fourth conference final and the veteran guard contributes being a great player to being able to play with other great players. “I don’t ask for the ball, I don’t demand it. I will play defense, I will do all the other things that don’t show up [on] the stat sheet. That’s always what I’ve [wanted] to be remembered [for]”.
History is on Dallas’ side as the record is 155-0 for teams that are up 3-0, but the team isn’t satisfied and Kyrie Irving let the media and the sports world know that it “means absolutely nothing” and the team knows “the job’s not finished”.
Dallas will potentially face the Eastern Conference Finals MVP Jaylen Brown and the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics. The Celtics swept the Indiana Pacers after Celtics guard Derrick White’s clutch corner three cashed their ticket to the Finals in their 105-102 victory.
Follow Rashad Miller on all social media @theuncoolurban for more sports content as well as his Youtube channel under the same name.
