DALLAS — After Karl-Anthony Towns busted out of his shooting slump to score 25 points in the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ 105-100 Game 4 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, Anthony Edwards had one more assist for the All-Star big man during their shared postgame news conference.
Intercepting a question during which Towns was asked to explain what changed — coming off a disastrous Game 3 that caused his coach, Chris Finch, to admit it was “hard to watch” — Edwards answered for him.
“Everything came together for him, he was super confident,” Edwards said. “He played exceptionally well, and he came through big time. He was the reason we won tonight.”
Towns shot 9-for-13 from the field and 4-for-5 on 3-pointers, scoring 10 of his points in the fourth quarter to help the Wolves finally exorcise their late-game demons after folding down the stretch through their 0-3 start to the Western Conference finals.
He came into the night shooting just 15-for-54 for the series (27.8%), including a 3-for-23 mark from 3 (13%).
“It’s Game 4, down 3-0, ain’t no time to have any doubts,” Towns said. “Go out there and be aggressive, shoot my shot like I’ve been doing all series, being confident in every shot I shoot.”
Finch, who benched Towns for nearly the last 9 minutes of Game 2, trusted his big man to play for most of the fourth quarter Tuesday with five fouls — subbing him in for Naz Reid with 9:25 remaining and leaving him in most of the rest of the way until he fouled out with 1:38 remaining.
“KAT’s a great player,” Finch said. “His struggles were not going to last forever. He got himself going. Even when he got deep in foul trouble, we left him out there. … Just let him roll, and he played smart, played under control, rebounded really well for us, executed defensively. Really proud of him.
“Tonight was a great step for him.”
Added Dallas guard Kyrie Irving, who suffered his first loss in a closeout situation of his career, dropping to 14-1 in large part because of Towns: “That’s what great players do. They figure it out.”
The Wolves hope to keep figuring out the Mavs to become the first team in league history to win four straight to win a series after dropping the first three games.
To that end, Edwards had one critique for Towns, knowing how important it will be for him to stay on the court as the conference finals continue — especially if Mavs rookie center, Dereck Lively II, can return from the neck sprain that sidelined him for Game 4.
“What did I tell you about fouling?” Edwards said, shooting Towns an exaggerated glare as they shared the postgame dais.
Edwards then turned his attention toward the reporters sitting in front of him: “I’m going to beat him up on the bus.”
Edwards’ wit wasn’t the only thing the shooting guard put on display Tuesday. He also played his best game of the series, scoring 29 points on 11-for-25 shooting with 10 rebounds, 9 assists and 6 turnovers.
While Edwards was more than happy to praise Towns, Mike Conley (14 points, 7 assists, 4 steals, 0 turnovers) and Kyle Anderson (2 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals in 25 minutes off the bench) for their contributions, his pull-up jump shot with 39.7 seconds left provided the dagger — putting the Wolves up five after an Irving layup had just made it a one-possession game.
“I was on the bench and had a front row seat watching that when I fouled out,” Towns said of Edwards’ game-sealing shot. “I feel like he was visualizing that make and he got to exactly the spot he wanted to. … I’m honored to be playing with my brother here, seeing him every day put the work in, and I knew when he got to that shot, it was a high likelihood he was going to make that.”
And if you listened to Edwards as he bantered with Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons at the end of the night, there’s a high likelihood the series is just getting started.
When Edwards passed by the Cowboys star in one of the back hallways at American Airlines Center and saw Parsons wearing a pair of Edwards’ signature sneakers, he made sure to find out what size Parsons wears and then made a similar guarantee to his declaration to a Ball Arena locker room attendant during Minnesota’s second-round victory over the Denver Nuggets.
“I’ll bring him back some nice shoes for Game 6,” Edwards said. “That’s what I told him.”
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.