Wolves lament failure to execute late in Game 1 loss to Mavs

MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch used two words to describe what cost his team in its 108-105 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday .

“No composure,” Finch said.

The Wolves committed five of their 10 turnovers in the final quarter, when the Mavs outscored them 10-3 in the final 3 minutes, 37 seconds to erase what was a four-point lead for Minnesota.

“We haven’t really been closing out the quarters, the halves very well over the last handful of games,” Finch continued. “It cost us a game in the Denver series. It definitely had an impact on this game tonight too. We have to be better in the deciding moments.”

The Wolves’ late miscues erased the 13-1 run they had led in 4:01 midway through the fourth quarter to turn an eight-point deficit into a four-point advantage.

First, Derek Lively II grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed Kyrie Irving layup with no one boxing out the Mavs rookie center. Lively returned the ball to an open 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 return the ball inbounds, where Doncic easily scooped it up for a steal that triggered a break that ended in a corner kick open 3 points from PJ Washington.

Then Karl-Anthony Towns cleaned up a missed Mike Conley 3 by diving into the putback, but he was called for offensive goaltending for touching the ball while it was still in the cylinder — a call that was confirmed by the video replay center. in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Eventually, Conley — with the Wolves still trailing by just two — threw a lob to Rudy Gobert in traffic that Doncic intercepted for another steal.

“I think we just have to do the little things a little better,” said McDaniels, who finished with a team-high 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting. “They had some offensive rebounds at the end and they turned into points. So it’s the little things, for real.”

After the Mavs went up by four with 7 seconds remaining on a pair of Irving free throws, Minnesota received another opportunity that it couldn’t execute on.

Improbably, Conley managed to foul Mavs guard Josh Green from beyond the arc with 1.8 seconds remaining.

Had the 17-year veteran made the first two free throws and deliberately missed the third, Minnesota might have had a chance to tie the game with a shot at the buzzer.

Instead, Conley nailed the first and missed the second, missing the opportunity. For the game, the Wolves shot 11 of 18 on free throws and the Mavs shot 16 of 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 as it did found Wednesday.

“I think we haven’t been tested like this where we had to exchange basket after basket, free throw situations late in the game or foul situations, things we have to be better at,” Conley said. “But we’ll learn from it. I think every game we learned a lot about ourselves and we can improve. Obviously it’s going to be a long series no matter what happened tonight. “