Even when the Timberwolves lost the first three games to the Mavericks, Anthony Edwards was in the team’s locker room in Dallas saying he still felt like the Wolves were the better team.
What happened Thursday night ended any idea of that being true, as the Mavericks made quick and lethal works of the Wolves and ended their season with a 124-103 to clinch the Western Conference finals 4-1.
“We never clicked all together as a team in this series. Not even one game,” the All-Star guard said after Game 5. “That was the main thing. The last two series, we was all clicking at one time, making shots and stuff. We wasn’t clicking at one time.”
But perhaps the Mavericks, especially their ascending defense, had something to do with that. The Wolves experienced all kinds of heartbreak in this series; Dallas star Luka Doncic quickly ripped it apart in Game 2 with a game-winning three-pointer. On Thursday, Doncic and company stomped it into oblivion from the opening minutes when he began the game with 20 of his 36 points in the first quarter. Doncic was the unanimous MVP of the series.
A playoff ride that featured plenty of Wolves franchise highs — sweeping Phoenix and a Game 7 comeback against the defending champion Nuggets — deserved a better ending than what the team gave in Game 5. Any time an exciting ride ends, there’s an inevitable letdown after the adrenaline rush drips out.
“I just wish it didn’t end like that,” center Naz Reid said.
Point guard Mike Conley, who was playing in only his second conference finals in 17 seasons, said getting this far and losing was harder to take than last season, when the Wolves were out in the first round.
“This is way tougher. Way tougher,” Conley said. “Because I feel like we were right there. I feel like early in the series, we had a couple games that we let slip that could have really turned this series and we could be looking at things a lot differently, so it’s really frustrating, but these things don’t happen by chance.”