MINNEAPOLIS — Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks left no doubts while taking the final step toward the superstar’s first NBA Finals appearance.
The Mavericks clinched the Western Conference title with a display of sheer dominance, eliminating the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 124-103 rout in Game 5 on Thursday at the Target Center.
The Mavs advance to the NBA Finals to face the Boston Celtics, who completed their sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the East finals on Monday.
It’s the third Finals trip in Dallas’ history and the first since 2011, when the Mavs won the franchise’s only NBA championship with current coach Jason Kidd playing point guard.
Doncic, who earned Western Conference finals MVP, had his highest-scoring outing of this postseason with 36 points.
He seized control from the Mavs’ opening possession of the night, scoring 12 points in the first 153 seconds and singlehandedly outscoring the Timberwolves by a 21-20 margin in the first quarter. He punctuated most of his buckets – including an off-dribble 3-pointer from the halfcourt logo — by sneering toward courtside fans who drew Doncic’s wrath.
The Mavs continued to pour it on in the second quarter, when Dallas co-star Kyrie Irving took his turn torching the Timberwolves’ No. 1-ranked defense. Irving, a one-time champion who played in three Finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers, scored 15 of his 36 points in the quarter.
Doncic and Irving each finished with at least 30 points for the fourth time during the Mavs’ playoff run. The only other duo to accomplish that more often during a single postseason was the Los Angeles Lakers’ Hall of Fame tandem of Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Doncic and Irving also joined Baylor and West as the only duos to ever have three dual 30-point outings in the same series.
Dallas’ stars became the first duo to each score at least 35 points in a conference finals game since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in 2001.
Doncic and Irving combined for 44 points in the first half, four more than Minnesota’s total. The superstar duo combined to score or assist on 57 of the Mavs’ 69 points in the half.
Dallas had a 29-point halftime lead, the largest at the break by a team that had a chance to clinch a Finals trip in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information. It was also the biggest halftime deficit in Minnesota’s postseason history.
It was one point shy of the largest halftime lead in Mavs playoff history. Dallas had a 30-point halftime lead in its road Game 7 rout of the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in the 2022 Western Conference semifinals.
This blowout wasn’t as stunning as the Mavs’ humiliation of the Suns, but there were a couple of distinct similarities: Doncic scoring seemingly at will and booing from a heartbroken home crowd.
“Who’s crying now, motherf—er?” Doncic shouted at a taunting fan after an and-1 basket early in the third quarter.
The Mavs have won their last five games on the road, a streak that started with a Game 2 win over the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round. Dallas is 7-2 on the road during this playoff run, matching the franchise record for road wins during a single postseason set by the 2011 title team.