Wolves drop WCF Game 1 at home to Mavs

Well, that isn't what we were expecting.

Final: Dallas Mavericks 108 Minnesota Timberwolves 105
Stats:
Minnesota:
Starters
J. McDaniels 24 pts 9-15 FG 6-9 3PT 4 REB 3 AST 1 STL
R. Gobert 12 pts 4-8 FG 4-6 FT 7 REB 1 AST 1 STL
K. Towns 16 pts 6-20 FG 2-9 FG 2-2 FT 7 REB 2 AST 1 STL
M. Conley 6 pts 2-7 FG 1-6 3PT 1-4 FT 3 REB 3 AST 2 STL
A. Edwards 19 pts 6-16 FG 5-12 3PT 2-2 FT 11 REB 8 AST 2 STL
Bench:
K. Anderson 11 pts 5-8 FG 1-3 3PT 2 REB 2 AST
N. Reid 15 pts 5-9 FG 3-6 3PT 2-4 FT 5 REB 2 AST 1 STL 1 BLK
N. Alexander-Walker 2 pts 1-6 FG 0-4 3PT 1 REB 2 AST

Game summary:
Well, this game started off good for Minnesota. The Wolves had an alright first half and landed at the break with a 3 point lead after allowing a late and-one to Kyrie. Something that will be crucial throughout the series is limiting the second chance points. My gosh this game, Dallas had a ton of them! It also seems that Minnesota was ok with allowing more paint points if it meant the Mavs didn't kill them from 3. That, in my opinion, is going to be a losing game. Minnesota should be trying to clear the paint, as that could be why we struggled on the defensive glass tonight. We also tried similar drop coverage that we have used in the first two series this year, and it did not work at all. Now towards the end of the game we added some blitzing in to try and stun Luka, which did seem to work most of the time. Unfortunately we kinda implemented it too late, as any basket was going to propel Dallas to victory in the last 2 minutes. Minnesota ended up missing several buckets late in the 4th that Dallas would end up making and they won by 3. 

Injury Report
Mike Conley played tonight after remaining on the injury report for his sore achilles. I would be very worried about both Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Anthony Edwards after tonight's game. NAW appeared to pull a tendon on the top of his foot mid-way through the 4th quarter and I don't believe he returned to the game. Edwards looked extremely sluggish in the 4th quarter. Originally I thought he just looked gassed, but I have never seen Ant this sluggish. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear he got sick or something late in the game. Hopefully both players are ok and ready to go for Game 2.

Up Next
The Wolves and Mavs go back at it on Friday at 7:30 PM CT at Target Center for Game 2. The game will be broadcast on TNT.

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