The Athletic covers the match live Mavericks vs. Timberwolves in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals
The Eastern and Western Conference Finals were a story of seasoned veterans outlasting young talent. As the Boston Celtics were Monday evening, Dallas Mavericks are favored to sweep the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight and head to the NBA Finals.
The fact is, the Timberwolves have already shown they can hang on to veterans after sweeping Phoenix and finishing Denver in seven matches. But we were waiting to see them go into beast mode in this series, and it just didn’t materialize. Despite matching Dallas for most minutes in each game, they have yet to pull out a win, faltering in the final minutes of all three games. Anthony Edwards has struggled to match Dallas’ star production, and unless the entire team can put together a stellar performance, it doesn’t look good for the Wolves.
Maybe the pressure of a playoff game will be enough to push this series to a Game 5 in Minnesota? But winning the series after losing 0-3 is, like everything NBA fans know it, a historical improbability.
Here’s a look at the storylines, odds and staff picks for Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday in Dallas.
All odds of PariMGM. Find the best deals on StubHub for tickets.
No. 3 Minnesota Timberwolves vs. No. 5 Dallas Mavericks
How to watch: 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT
Dallas leads the series 3-0
Series odds: Mavericks -5000, Timberwolves +1400
The duo of Luka Doncic And Kyrie Irving has hit the next gear in this series. Add in their supporting cast producing at a solid level and it’s hard to see Dallas giving up a win. Dončić and Irving scored a game-high 33 points in Game 3 on Sunday night, adding six steals, nine assists and 10 rebounds between them. The Mavs’ efforts led to their biggest win of the series thus far and increased their odds of winning the series from -600 to -5000.
But the numbers hide the fact that early in the fourth quarter, it really looked like Dallas might lose Game 3. Derek Lively II, a key to the Mavericks’ defense and their plus-minus leader in the playoffs, was out with a neck injury and the game was tied at 87. It looked like an opening for the Timberwolves. Instead, the Mavericks scored 29 points, including 14 by Irving, and won the game by 9.
Of course, if Lively is out for Game 4, that hampers the Mavs’ progress.
The Timberwolves went from +425 to win the series to +1400. The youth of Minnesota show it. This is also not an indictment of Edwards or the team. They have already proven their talent and ability to take down even the reigning league MVP. This may be more of a symptom of fatigue than anything else. Their series against Denver was grueling and long. And they fought hard through each of those matches, but not hard enough in the end to pull out a victory. Game 2, in particular, was a heartbreaker, with Dallas pulling out a one-point victory thanks to a game-winning shot late in the game.
Edwards had a good game Sunday night, collecting nine rebounds, nine assists and 26 points, including a vicious, acrobatic dunk in the third quarter, in which the Wolves came back from a 12-point deficit. Cities of Karl-Anthony had 14 points and 11 rebounds, but he went 0 of 8 from three. In this series, he’s shooting 27.8 percent from the field and 13.6 percent from 3. If he comes out hot in Game 4, the Timberwolves’ chances look much better.
Ultimately, Dončić is an All-NBA player, and Irving has already done that. The Mavs continue to show a clutch factor that the Wolves can’t match, or haven’t been able to match yet.
Expert Picks for Timberwolves at Mavericks
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(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
