DALLAS – Several minutes after the game was over, Anthony Edwards sat in a corner of the Timberwolves locker room still in disbelief over how exactly his team lost 115-108 to the Mavericks.
Timberwolves fumble the finish, fall to Mavericks 115-108
Dallas' star backcourt of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving was too much for the Wolves, who were outscored 15-2 at the end after taking a six-point lead.
January 8, 2024 at 5:20AM
"We supposed to win this game," said Edwards, who had a game-high 36 points. "But I guess we lost. I still feel like we won. It's still not coming to me how we lost this game."
Edwards meant his words in a more figurative sense, considering that this iteration of the Wolves has done such a good job closing games on their way to a 25-10 record. There was little mystery why the Wolves lost Sunday. After Edwards and Towns scored every point of a 19-4 fourth-quarter run, the Wolves took their largest lead of the night, 106-100, with 3 minutes, 53 seconds to play.
But they scored just one basket the rest of the night, an almost meaningless Edwards bucket with 11.4 seconds remaining. In the interim, the Wolves took a few bad shots, like when Edwards settled for a three-point attempt against a double team, Rudy Gobert had a pair of turnovers and the clean looks they did get didn't fall.
Sprinkle in a few threes down the stretch from Dallas star Kyrie Irving, who had 35 points, and it added up to one of the few times the Wolves relinquished a lead that late in a game this season.
"Bad offense, really," coach Chris Finch said. "A couple turnovers that cost us … but some rushed shots. I got to do a better job. I got to get the ball into Mike [Conley's] hands at that point in time like I'd been doing all season."
The Wolves wouldn't have been in that position if they had a better effort from the start Sunday, as Luka Doncic (34 points) and Irving dictated the pace and played a part in getting Edwards, Gobert and Towns in foul trouble. Both Towns and Gobert sat most of the third quarter with four fouls while Edwards picked up three in the first quarter.
"We could've helped ourselves in a lot of different ways throughout the game," Towns said. "It's tough to say at the end that's what hurt us. Coach gave us good looks. We got good looks, all of us. Just one of them days it didn't go down for us when it needed to. We're a tough group of guys in here, tough game. We'll be all right."
When those three were on the floor together in the fourth, the Wolves finally looked like themselves again, and both Edwards and Towns (24 points) caught fire during that 19-4 run which seemed like it would be the defining moment in the game.
Instead, it was a footnote. After the Wolves led, their next possessions went like this: Edwards missed his three against the double team, then the Mavericks tied it at 106. Jaden McDaniels, who was 1-for-10 on the night, missed a right corner three.
Rudy Gobert got a steal on the Wolves' next defensive possession before Irving stole it back and nailed a three for a 109-106 Mavericks lead with 2:05 left.
Towns missed a top-of-the-key three that appeared rushed on the next possession, though he said his late looks felt good to him, before Gobert threw an errant pass for a turnover on the Wolves' next trip down the court.
"I got to hold myself accountable," said Gobert, who had nine points and 17 rebounds. "Those plays make a difference down the stretch. … Just got to be better down the stretch."
Another Towns missed three with 46.6 seconds remaining was the Wolves' last chance at tying the score before Derrick Jones iced it for Dallas with a dunk. Besides his disbelief, Edwards was left with another emotion Sunday night — regret.
"I feel like once again I left bullets in the chamber," Edwards said. "But I'll take this one, for sure. I gotta be aggressive down the stretch."
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