The Timberwolves offense Thursday night looked like a middle school at the final bell on the last day of school.
Total chaos. Bodies running in every direction, disorderly and frenetic. The pressure of the moment caused the Wolves to melt.
And the more Luka Doncic rained down three-pointers, the worse it got for the home team.
A flicker of hope ignited two days earlier got doused by a cold bucket of water in the first 24 minutes of Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, bringing a thud finish to the best and most exciting Wolves season in the organization’s 35 years of existence.
A first half messier than a teenager’s bedroom doomed the Wolves’ bid to extend the series with a 124-103 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at Target Center.
The Wolves trailed by as many as 36 points and were never really a threat after the first quarter.
“Offensively, we never really settled in,” coach Chris Finch said. “Their physicality bothered us.”
One stat encapsulated the difference in the team’s offensive efficiency: Doncic and Kyrie Irving outscored the Wolves by themselves (44-40) in the first half as the Mavs took a 69-40 lead to the locker room.