MINNEAPOLIS — Kyrie Irving and Luke Doncic carried Mavericks to a 108-105 victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
Jaden McDaniels led the Wolves in scoring with 24 points, but nobody else on the team was able to crack the 20-point mark.
Doncic put up 33 points and Irving added 30 points of his own.
This was McDaniels' third straight 20-plus-point game, but teammate Anthony Edwards — who earned his first All-NBA selection prior to the game, on the second team — was stifled for 19 points in a team effort from the Mavericks. Karl-Anthony Towns needed a late burst to get to 16 points and finished 6 for 20 from the floor.
The star power in this series is strong, and for the first night at least the Mavericks got what they needed from their leading duo while the Wolves largely struggled to run the offense around theirs.
Dallas had a 62-38 advantage in points in the paint.
Towns came to life with a long jumper, a lob to Rudy Gobert for a slam and a 3-pointer on a 2-minute burst to give the Wolves the lead back with 4:39 to go on the way to a 10-0 run that Doncic ended with a 3-pointer. P.J. Washington, who had 13 points and seven rebounds, hit from deep to put the Mavericks back in front with 1:56 to go.
Towns thought he tied the game with a putback dunk on the next possession, but that was waved off for basket interference.
Edwards, who went scoreless in the third quarter, added 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Friday night in Minneapolis.
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