MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch used two words to describe what it cost his team in a 108-105 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Wednesday.
“No composure,” said Finch.
The Wolves committed five of their 10 turnovers as a team in the final frame when the Mavs outscored them 10-3 in the final 3 minutes, 37 seconds to erase a four-point Minnesota lead.
“We haven’t closed the quarters very well, the halves very well in the last few games,” Finch continued. “It cost us a game in the Denver series. It definitely had an impact on this game tonight. We’ve got to be better in the clutch moments.”
Late mistakes by the Wolves erased an inspired rally in which they went on a 13-1 run over a 4:01 span midway through the fourth to turn an eight-point deficit into a four-point cushion.
First, Derek Lively II grabbed an offensive rebound from a Kyrie Irving missed the layup with no one to box the Mavs rookie center. He put the ball back into open space Luka Doncic for 3.
Three straight turnovers followed soon after for the Wolves. Jaden McDaniels dribbled toward the baseline with nowhere to go, jumped and had to throw the ball back into the inbounds, where Doncic scooped it up easily for a steal that sparked a layup that ended with an open corner 3-pointer by PJ Washington.
Next, Karl-Anthony Towns I cleaned a Mike Conley missed the 3 by dunking the layup, but was called for offensive lineman for touching the ball while it was still on the reel — a call upheld by the video replay center in Secaucus, NJ
Finally, Conley — with the Wolves still down by just two — threw a dunk Rudy Gobert on the drive intercepted by Doncic for another steal.
“I think we’ve got to do the little things a little bit better,” said McDaniels, who finished with a team-high 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting. “They had some offensive rebounds at the end and they turned into points. That’s the little things, in fact.”
After the Mavs went up by four with 7 seconds left on a pair of free throws by Irving, Minnesota got another chance that it couldn’t make.
In all likelihood, Conley was able to draw a foul on the Mavs guard Josh Green from beyond the arc with 1.8 seconds left.
If the 17-year veteran had made the first two free throws and intentionally missed the third, Minnesota could have had a chance to tie the game with a tip-in at the buzzer.
Instead, Conley made the first and missed the second, missing the opportunity. For the game, the Wolves shot 11-for-18 on free throws and the Mavs 16-for-17.
Conley said the Wolves’ first-round sweep of the Phoenix Suns and second-round win over the defending champion Denver Nuggets in seven games didn’t necessarily prepare Minnesota for the final minutes it found itself Wednesday.
“I think we haven’t been tested like that, where we’ve had to trade basket for basket, free throw situations late in the game or foul situations, things we have to be better at,” Conley said. “But we’re going to learn from it. I think every game we learned a lot about ourselves, a lot that we can get better at. Obviously, it’s going to be a big series regardless of what happened tonight.”