Anthony Edwards’ electric slam lit Wolves up, until Dallas slammed them down

Not all field goals made are worth a mere two points. Struggling Wolves All-NBA star Anthony Edwards proved as much with one of his soaring slam dunks that energized his team in the third quarter.

Edwards’ jam in the face of Dallas shot-blocking specialist Daniel Gafford started the Wolves on a 13-3 run that got them both statistically and emotionally back in a game they once trailed by 12 points.

The dunk itself brought them within 77-73 midway through the third. He scored that one and the next six points as well in a comeback where they led by three in the fourth quarter.

The Wolves were ultimately undone 116-107 by a late 13-3 Dallas run of its own — and by the Mavs backcourt of Luke Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Edwards received helped offensively in their 13-3 run from veteran point guard Mike Conley, NBA Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid and reserve forward Kyle Anderson.

Mavericks’ shot-blocking presence, rookie Dereck Lively left the floor with less than nine minutes left before halftime after he fell in a tangle of players under the basket and Karl-Anthony Towns kneed him in the back of the head as Towns came down from attempting a rebound.

Lively was down for some time until he was helped looking wobbly to the locker room with what the Mavericks later called a neck strain. He did not play again.

Earlier in the second quarter, Towns kneed Lively during a drive to the rim early in the second quarter. TNT analyst Reggie Miller described it as a “direct hit” but Lively remained in the game only to take Towns’ knee inadvertently to the back of his head while he was down under the basket.

Before Game 1, Wolves coach Chris Finch predicted this is a series made for reserve forward Anderson. He made his first five shots on Sunday before he missed one and scored 10 points. He was particularly valuable in that 13-3 run started and energized by Edwards.

Anderson played nearly 11 minutes on Wednesday and 27½ minutes on Friday, scoring seven points in Game 2 and defensively proving himself, along with Jaden McDaniels, the Wolves defender best suited to guard Doncic and maybe Kyrie Irving as well.

In Game 3, Anderson entered late in the first quarter, soon thereafter blocked a Doncic shot and made a bad pass turnover.

“Luka is a tough matchup for anybody,” Finch said. “But he’s got size. He can move with him. He can play with enough physicality. He was also great offensively for us. Like I said in the beginning, I thought this would be a great Kyle series. It’s turned out to be really for us, for him.”

Just a reminder: No team in NBA history has come back to win a seven-game series in which they lost the first three games. The historical record of teams facing that deficit like the Wolves are now? 0-154.

No team has won a series after losing the first two games at home, either. Teams in that scenario are 0-9.

Doncic and Irving combined to score 66 points — 33 points each — while the Wolves scoring stars Town and Edwards scored 40 points together (Edwards 26, Towns 14) on a combined 16-for-42 shooting. The Wolves’ All-Stars were a combined 0-for-10 on three-pointers Sunday, with Towns 0-for-8 all by himself. In his last five games, Towns is 4-for-32 on threes.

Wolves big man Rudy Gobert downplayed his Game 2 exchange with Doncic, who took exception to Gobert’s hard, reach-in foul while attempting a steal. The Wolves led by 18 points midway through Friday’s second quarter at the time.

“He was upset about the foul and I told him it was just a regular foul,” Gobert said. “Nothing dirty. Nothing to try to get him hurt or anything like that. He’s a competitor, I’m a competitor and sometimes you can have some of these conversations. But it wasn’t any disrespect.”

Heading into Game 3, Edwards was shooting 17-for-57 from the floor since Game 6 of the Denver series. That’s the game in which he fell on his backside. He played 40 minutes in two of those three games and 43 in the other.

“I’m good, I’m ready to go,” he said.

Wolves veteran point guard Mike Conley went to the locker room late in the first quarter, but returned early in the second quarter. He played 31 minutes, scored 16 points with four threes and kept his team organized at both ends when he was on the court.

Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes was on the American Airlines Center court shaking hands with players and coaches during pre-game warmups. Former Mavs great Dirk Nowitzki, Queen Latifah, Mahomes’ KC teammate Travis Kelce also attended.

Charles Barkley was right this time. He said “it’s a wrap” after the Wolves beat Denver twice at home to start their Western Conference second-round series. He said the very same thing about Sunday’s game, and this time got it right.

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.