(Minneapolis) Luka Doncic scored 36 points, including 20 in the first quarter, and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-103 on Thursday night to reach the NBA Finals.
“He made his teammates understand that it was time to take things to the next level,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said of Doncic. He sent out the invitations and the whole team responded. »
The Mavericks eliminated the Timberwolves in five games.
Kyrie Irving also scored 36 points in the victory.
The Mavericks led by 29 points at halftime, and even led by 36 at one point in the third quarter.
For the Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards scored 28 points and Karl-Anthony Towns also added 28, to go along with his 12 rebounds.
“It never worked out collectively for our team in this series,” Edwards said. The previous two series, we were all on the same page, our shots and everything. This time, that wasn’t the case. »
The Mavericks, fifth seed in the Western Conference, will have a full week off before returning to action in the final, for the first game against the Celtics, June 6 in Boston.
The Celtics will have had 10 days off, after sweeping the series honors against the Indiana Pacers.
Irving is 15-1 in his career when he and his team can shut down the opponent.
It was the second time Doncic had a quarter of 20 or more points in the playoffs.