Dallas Mavericks beat Minnesota Timberwolves 124-103 to face Boston Celtics in final

Slovenian Luka Doncic (36 points) and his Dallas Mavericks teammates crushed the Minnesota Timberwolves on their home court on Thursday, May 30 (124-103). They reach the finals where they will face the Boston Celtics.

After the “sweep” (clean sweep) of Boston against Indiana on Monday (4-0), Dallas completed these conference finals without much suspense with an authoritarian success for a series folded 4-1 against Minnesota.

Defeated in the Western Conference final by the Golden State Warriors in 2022, Dallas returns to the NBA final for the first time since 2011 and the only trophy in its history, then in the wake of the German Dirk Nowitzki.

Once again, it is a European who controls the destiny of the Texan franchise with the Slovenian Luka Doncic, who shines brightly in these play-offs. On Thursday, he put in a successful demonstration, the Timberwolves, although renowned for their defense, being reduced to watching the balls fly and land in their basket from the first minutes of the match.

Unstoppable, Doncic alone had more points than Minnesota at the end of the first quarter (20 for Doncic, 35 for Dallas, 19 for Minnesota).

In trying to put out the fire, the Wolves freed up space for the Slovenian’s partners, notably Kyrie Irving (also 36 points), and were never able to get back into the game. “It was embarrassing”commented ex-star Charles Barkley, star consultant for broadcaster TNT, during the break in a room almost reduced to silence.

The blow is hard for the Wolves, well launched by major successes over Phoenix (4-0) then the reigning champion Denver (4-3). But with broken leaders and a physical appearance seemingly blunted, they only found the key once against Dallas.

The Boston Celtics favorites in the final

Luka Doncic, essential boss of the Mavericks well accompanied by the experienced Kyrie Irving, will have the opportunity in the final to write a new page in his already crazy career, he who is only 25 years old.

A true basketball genius, the Slovenian was already a major player for Real Madrid for success in the tough Euroleague in 2018 – he was 19 years old, before being drafted third by Atlanta and sent directly to Dallas that same year.

In six NBA seasons, the 2017 European champion with Slovenia has accumulated impressive statistics in 400 regular season matches (28.7 points on average) and 45 play-off matches (31 points on average).

A formidable attacker (skillful in shooting, effective with his feints near the basket), Doncic was the top scorer in the 2023-2024 regular season (33.9 points), being beaten only by the Serbian Nikola Jokic for the title of MVP.

He will have to sublimate himself in the final against the Celtics, who start favorites with home advantage and after having wandered into the play-offs in the East (4-1 against Miami then Cleveland, 4-0 against Indiana).

During their two confrontations in 2024, Dallas lost twice (in January then in March) against the “It’s”.

The final, which will begin on June 6 in Boston, promises to be hot, especially between the noisy Massachusetts crowd and leader Kyrie Irving, who left Boston on bad terms in 2019.

In the other direction, Latvian pivot Kristaps Porzingis, injured for a month, should make his return and bring an additional threat to Boston, against his former franchise (2019-2022).