Dallas Mavericks one win away from NBA Finals as they go up 3-0 on the Minnesota Timberwolves

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3, 116-107, to move to 3-0 in the series and knock on the door of a first NBA Finals in 13 years.

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals on Sunday, 116-107, to move to 3-0 in the series and knock on the door of their first NBA Finals appearance in 13 years. Dallas’ superstar guard tandem of Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving both scored 33 points on 50% or better shooting against Minnesota in front of a raucous American Airlines Center in north Texas. The Mavs’ 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series is historically significant as no NBA team has ever overcome that deficit in a playoff series, with the teams holding the lead going 154-0. “It means absolutely nothing right now,” Irving said when asked about the 154-0 stat. “Going into Game 4, it’s still 0-0. And that’s the type of mentality we have in that locker room.” According to ESPN, the Mavericks are the first team to take a 3-0 series lead despite trailing in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter in each game during the play-by-play era, which began in 1997-98. Irving came up big late for Dallas, scoring 14 of his points in the fourth quarter, to hold off a Minnesota squad which held a lead with 5:05 left in the game. As a duo, Dončić and Irving scored or assisted 26 of the Mavericks’ 29 fourth quarter points.