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DALLAS — Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving scored 33 points apiece and the Dallas Mavericks made all the big plays late again, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-107 on Sunday night for a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
The Mavericks closed with a 12-3 run, winning their fifth consecutive playoff game after rookie center Dereck Lively II left with a sprained neck after taking an accidental shot to the back of the head from Karl-Anthony Towns‘ knee.
No team in NBA playoff history has rallied from 3-0 down. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Dallas.
P.J. Washington started the decisive run with a corner 3-pointer after Doncic passed to Irving, who sent the ball to Washington.
The co-stars took over from there.
Doncic hit a shot in the lane for a four-point lead, Irving sent the crowd into a frenzy with on a falling-down jumper and Doncic found Daniel Gafford for an alley-oop dunk and a 113-105 lead with 34 seconds left after Gafford blocked Mike Conley‘s layup attempt at the other end.
Anthony Edwards had 26 points for the Wolves, but just four after scoring eight consecutive points for Minnesota to get the Wolves even in the third quarter.
Towns scored 14 points but missed all eight 3s, including one when the deficit was four with 1:25 remaining.
Doncic, whose game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds of Game 2 in Minnesota put Dallas firmly in control of the series, was 10 of 20 and 5 of 11 from deep.
Irving made 12 of 20 and 3 of 6 from long range to get the Mavs within a victory of their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2011, when they won the franchise’s only championship.