The Lone Ranger is off to a good start! The Eastern European pair scored 63 points, Edwards was a quasi-triple-double, and Downs was in a slump

Lao Liang commented

2024-05-23 11:12Posted in Shandong Sports Creators

On May 23, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs West Finals G1 began, and the Timberwolves faced the Mavericks at home. The Timberwolves swept the Suns Big Three 4-0 in the first round, and won three games in a row from a 2-0 lead to the Nuggets in the second round, but G6 won by 45 points in a game, and completed a 20-point reversal in the tiebreaker, and the morale was like a rainbow! After the Mavericks eliminated the Clippers 4-2 in the first round, they faced the Thunder, who ranked first in the West in the regular season, in the second round and advanced 4-2 again. This morning, the league announced the All-NBA team of the season, and Doncic was elected for the fifth time in six years, surpassing Nowitzki to become the first player in the history of the Mavericks. And Doncic is eligible to sign a five-year super-cap salary of up to $346 million next summer, with an average annual salary of $69 million! In horizontal comparison, Kobe Bryant only earned a total of $320 million on the court in his career.

And Edwards, the core of the Timberwolves, was also selected for the best second team, so Edwards' five-year $204 million contract last summer became a five-year $245 million! In his pre-match interview, Edwards said, "I'm going to play against Irving, it's very interesting, and you'll see how I deal with him." In the first two rounds of the Mavericks' series, the overall performance of the team's boss Doncic slowly picked up, and the two major forwards, Washington and Jones, contributed to it. The Timberwolves are all soldiers, with Edwards averaging 28.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game in the playoffs this year. According to the data, the Eastern Conference Celtics have a 75.9% chance of winning the championship and the Pacers have a 1.9% probability of winning the championship; The Western Timberwolves have a 19.5% chance of winning the championship, and the Mavericks have only a 2.7% chance of winning the championship. The Mavericks' ceiling is here with Irving, not Doncic.

Timberwolves starters: Conley + Edwards + McDaniels + Towns + Gobert; Mavericks starters: Doncic + Irving + Derrick Jones + Washington + Gafford At the beginning of the game, Doncic made a quick stop-and-go throw, Towns and Edwards took turns to single, and Conley counterattacked and scored, but Irving made an early effort and hit consecutive jumpers. In the middle of the section, Madan hit three three-pointers in a row, and at the critical moment, it was Irving who chased the score twice! In the second half, Edwards and Washington faced off from the outside, and Irving trained Edwards and Reed, but at the end of the quarter, Lee Kyle scored 7 points in a row with a burst outside shot, plus Edwards made a three-pointer, and the Timberwolves led the Mavericks 33-27 in the first quarter. At the beginning of the second quarter, Doncic and Maidan continued to compete on the outside, Madan and Li Kaier once opened a 9-point difference, and at the critical moment, Irving's unreasonable breakthrough attack, Doncic made a force to stop the Timberwolves.

In the second half, Reed and Downs rained three points to stop the bleeding, Madan continued to score three points, Lively blew up dunk + Irving super counterattacked, Edwards burst inside and outside at the end of the quarter, and Irving responded with a difficult 2+1! The Timberwolves led the Mavericks 62-59 at halftime, Irving scored 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting, and Doncic had 14 points and five assists; Edwards 13 points, Maidan 19 and Lee Kyle 11. Coming back in the second half, Gafford continued to eat cakes and dunk, and Jones thundered on the ground, almost breaking the basket! After the Mavericks overtook the score, Towns dunked + made a kill, and Conley also continued to score three points, but Doncic continued to attack and succeed, and Josh Green finally opened the three-point hand in the second half, Reed responded to chase three points, and after the third quarter, the Timberwolves led the Mavericks 83-82. Irving has a good hand, but Doncic is sticky.

In the fourth quarter of the decisive battle, Reed and Maidan came up and continued to shoot three-pointers, Irving struggled to make fouls, and at the critical moment, Doncic made consecutive jumpers + three points, surpassing the Timberwolves in waves. In the middle of the period, Doncic continued to attack the layup, and Levery dunked violently, and the Mavericks led by up to 8 points! But Edwards and Towns burst inside and out, Gobert dunked down, and the Timberwolves responded with a wave of 11-1 climax! At the decisive moment, Edwards continued to score three points, and Doncic + Washington scored two three-pointers at the critical moment! In the final 2 minutes, Towns attacked and interfered with the ball, Conley missed, and Doncic continued to retreat and shoot. In the last 17 seconds, Reed made a basket to chase 2 points, Irving hit both free throws, and Josh Green made a three-point foul to give the Timberwolves a chance, but Conley missed the second free throw and missed the third free throw rebound! In the end, the Timberwolves lost to the Mavericks 105-108 at home.

Mavericks statistics, Doncic 33 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals, Irving 30 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Washington 13 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks, Gafford 10 points and 9 rebounds, Derrick Jones 8 points and 4 rebounds, Lively 9 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists. Timberwolves statistics, Edwards had 19 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists on 6-of-16 shooting, Towns had 16 points and 7 rebounds on 6-of-20, Madan had 24 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Conley had 6 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Reed had 15 points and 5 rebounds, and Lee Kyle had 11 points.

The West Duel is much more intense than the East Duel! Throughout the game, the Mavericks' game intensity and willingness to fight were even higher than those of the Timberwolves. Irving tried his hand in the first half and proved the consequences of Edwards' mouth cannon with his actions, and in the second half, especially Doncic's outburst in the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves were a little overwhelmed. Although the Timberwolves have a good overall outside hand today, they lose rebounds, Gobert is too slow on the inside, Towns is not very efficient in offense and defense, and the Timberwolves are still not stable enough. Once Edwards and Downs are inaccurate, it will be really difficult for the West to decide!

View original image 829K

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•