Anthony Edwards scored 29 points and Karl-Anthony Towns produced a crucial late burst of long-range shots as the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Dallas Mavericks 105-100 on Tuesday to keep their NBA Western Conference finals series alive .
Minnesota, trailing 3-0 in the best-of-seven series heading into Game 4, held off a furious late rally to close out a combative victory at Mavericks Arena.
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Edwards led Minnesota’s scoring, but the decisive contribution came from Towns, who scored a three-pointer to help the Timberwolves take a 98-92 lead with less than two minutes remaining.
Edwards extended the advantage to 100-92 via a jump shot with 1 minute, 47 seconds on the clock to put Minnesota in control.
But there was still time for Dallas to give the third seeds a nervy finale, closing to within three at 100-97 before Edwards’ sublime 21-foot pull-up put the Timberwolves five points ahead at 40 seconds from the end.
The visitors held that advantage until the buzzer and now have a thin lifeline to cling to as they head into Game 5 in Minneapolis on Thursday.
Edwards said afterward that he had been determined to prevent Dallas from winning a tie.
“I’ve never been swept in my career, even though I’ve been to the playoffs three times,” Edwards told TNT television.
“I took it personally.
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“I definitely didn’t want to get swept away, especially here, on their pitch, hearing the fans talking stupid things all day. I think we competed at a high level today.
“I think I was aggressive. I wasn’t afraid of the ball and they kept giving it to me and trusting me,” Edwards added.
Dallas, meanwhile, was frustrated after losing despite another triple double from Luka Doncic, who finished with 28 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.
Doncic had an off night from long range, however, making just four of 11 from three-point range. As a team, Dallas went 14 of 40 from beyond the arc.
“It’s on me,” Doncic said after the loss. “We have to do better. They won one game, we just have to focus on the next one.
“It was close at the end but we couldn’t finish. So they won and now we just have to focus on the next one. Towns finished with 25 points, Mike Conley adding 14 and Rudy Gobert 13.
