The Timberwolves and Dallas play tonight in Dallas, with the Mavericks leading the best-of-7 series 2-0. Staff writer Chris Heene is reporting live from American Airlines Arena:
Stats and play-by-play from Game 3
8:09 p.m.: Wolves go halfway, but Mavs lose key player.
Karl-Anthony Towns missed his first seven shots of the night and went 2-for-10 in the first half as the Wolves trailed Dallas 60-52 at halftime. Towns missed all five of his three pointers.
But Dallas suffered a major blow to their front line when Derek Lively left the game with a neck injury with 8 minutes and 35 seconds to play in the second.
As Lively fell to the floor to recover, his head collided with Tunis’ knee, knocking his head forward. Lively stayed on the floor for several minutes during the break and needed help getting off the floor as he struggled to keep his balance. He finished with six points on 3-for-3 shooting, three rebounds and his return is questionable.
Lively was 13-for-13 in the series before he left; Earlier in the game, the Wolves’ big man took Towns’ knee as he drove to the rim.
The Mavs’ Luka Doncic and Rudy Gobert exchanged pleasantries after a quarter of a season of being stuck around the rebound and screen on consecutive plays. Doncic had some words for Gobert after hitting the game-winning three in Game 2. Both teams had failed attempts in the first half.
Edwards and Jayden McDaniel led the Colts with 12 points apiece.
Doncic led the way with 15 and Dallas shot 54 percent.
7:33 p.m.: Wolves trail by one, Conley visits locker room
Ahead of Sunday’s Game 3, Wolves coach Chris Finch’s message to Karl-Anthony Towns was to play slow and he wants Anthony Edwards to play fast.
Edwards had nine first-quarter points, but Towns couldn’t get going as the Wolves trailed Dallas 33-28 after one.
Wolves point guard Mike Conley went to the locker room during the quarter; He was playing despite a calf injury. He soon returned.
Edwards was 3-for-6 from the field while Towns went 0-for-3 in the quarter. Luka Doncic had eight early points for Dallas.
Dallas came out with a bang on the home court as the Mavericks hit their first three threes of the night and Edwards got off to a rocky start with a turnover, brick and one of two free throws after a drive.
Edwards hit the next two shots and the Wolves got threes from Conley and Jayden McDaniels to pull within 15-13 with 6:01 to play in the period.
The Wolves got seven first-quarter points from McDaniel, who had success with a 10-foot mid-range jumper, but the Wolves’ defense had little answer for the Mavericks’ offense, which went 11-for-19.
6:36 pm Suggested
Dallas starters: point guard Luka Doncic (game stats: 28.0 points, 9.4 rebounds, 9.3 assists), shooting guard Kyrie Irving (21.6 points, 5.4 assists), small forward Derrick Jones (10.1 points), power forward PJ Washington (13.9 points) and center Daniel Gafford (9.2 points, 5.7 rebounds). Center Derek Lively is averaging 8.7 points off the bench.
For the Wolves, point guard Mike Conley (11.4 points, 6.1 assists), shooting guard Anthony Edwards (27.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists), small forward Jaden McDaniel (12.5 points), power forward Karl-Anthony Urban (18.3 points), 8.9 rebounds. ) and center Rudy Gobert (12.5 points, 10.5 rebounds). Naz Reed is averaging 11.7 points off the bench.
The referees are Tony Brothers (Crew Chief), Ben Taylor and Curtis Blair. The last time they took on the Wolves was the 3rd game of the Denver streak and the Colts lost at home.
The game is presented on TNT television, with a peak schedule at 7 p.m
Morning Shootout Summary: Anthony Edwards says he will be extremely aggressive.
One of Anthony Edwards’ defining characteristics on and off the court is the contagious joy he approaches every aspect of his life. Regardless of the situation, you rarely find Edwards in a bad mood.
But after the first two Western Conference Finals games, Edwards lost some of the joy of playing basketball as he missed some high-scoring games.
“I might be getting away with having fun out there,” Edwards said during a shootaround before Game 3. It’s just to let my nostalgia and stuff go in my head. Just go back to having fun, playing happily, smiling. on my face.”
Edwards is 11-for-33 in this series and promises to be more aggressive, attack the basket more and take more shots in Game 3 than he has so far.
“You’ll all see tonight. It’s going to be a lot of shoots,” Edwards said. “… I’m going to be extremely aggressive. I haven’t taken more than 16 shots per game. So I’m definitely going to be aggressive going out there.”
Although the Colts lost two games at home and could have won, Edwards said the atmosphere around the team was still positive and good.
“Everybody in a good mood, especially myself,” Edwards said. “We dropped two games. We gave two games away. We are very confident.”