NBA Playoffs: Halfway Home In The Conference Finals

Our Halfway Home post for the conference finals will only be Half Full, as the East is already in the books with a sweep. The Wrap-Up post will have the Celtics-Pacers comments. Here’s a look at the Western finals four games in:

Dallas (5) leads Minnesota (3) 3-1
This is series is looking like one where Minnesota just took to long to get started. The formula that made them the betting favorite when it began—and led this space to confidently predict they would win in five or less was simple. They play the best defense in the NBA, have an elite star in Anthony Edwards and a great big-man duo of Karl Anthony-Towns and Rudy Gobert, and some quality complementary players. The latter part held true for three games, as the role players, from Naz Reid to Jaden McDaniels and others, did their jobs. But the fundamental elements of Timberwolves success.

For the first three games, Dallas shot 49 percent or higher from the floor. Towns and Gobert were MIA at key points in the games, and Towns was particularly cold in his shooting. Edwards was in a scoring funk. Meanwhile, the Mavericks were getting active work from Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford down low, while Luka Doncic stuffed the stat sheet and made every big shot in games that were all down to the wire.

But in Game 4, that changed. The Minnesota defense returned and held Dallas to 42 percent shooting. Luka got his numbers—28/15/10, but at the price of 7-for-21 from the floor. Kyrie Irving didn’t get his numbers—only 16 points, and was inefficient in not doing so, as he shot 6-for-18.

While Edwards still went 11-for-25, he ended up with a more vintage 29/9/9 line. Even more important was his clutch shooting. No shot was bigger than the 20-footer he nailed with just under a minute to go. Dallas had closed an eight-point deficit down to three, at 100-97. If Edwards misses, another heartbreak looms. But he connected, and the Timberwolves finally closed the door.

Towns kind of came and went, but he was active at the beginning of the game to help set the tone and delivered a pair of monster treys down the stretch. KAT finished with 25 points and may have gotten his confidence back. Gobert’s 13 points seemed to all come at important moments, and he added 10 rebounds.

That’s the Timberwolves team that was expected and they showed what they could do. They still have two home games left as they look to make history and be the first NBA team to rally from a 3-0 series deficit. But it probably just took them too long to find themselves.

Looming over the Mavs is that Dereck Lively left in the second half of Game 3 with a neck injury. He didn’t play Game 4 and his status for Game 5 is up in the air. Lively’s activity down low has been a vital part of Dallas’ success.

The remaining games of this series are scheduled for Thursday, Saturday, and Monday, all at 8:30 PM ET on TNT.