Kyrie Irving finished with 35 points and two game-tying and game-winning three-pointers in a 115-108 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.
Irving made 14 of 27 shooting attempts, 6 of 8 from the 3-point arc. Luka Doncic supplemented with 34 points on 12-of-26 shooting, five of twelve from three-point range.
Irving’s 3-pointer from the peak of the arc with 2:59 remaining knotted the game at 106. With 2:05 remaining, he then swiped the ball from Rudy Gobert and made another three-pointer from the right corner.
With 24 seconds remaining, Derrick Jones Jr. secured the Mavs’ victory with a driving dunk.
“We knew we were undersized against Gobert and (Karl-Anthony Towns) tonight, so we wanted to do our best job possible rebounding and doing the little things,” Irving commented. “Little things got us this win today.”
For the Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards led all scorers with 36 points on 14-of-27 shooting. In this season, Minnesota had won the initial two meetings.
It was a clutch finish for the Mavs (22-15) against the statistically greatest clutch team in NBA history. Dallas improved to third-best in the league with a 12-5 record in clutch contests. With five minutes remaining, Minnesota is now 11-3 in critical games, which occur when the scoring margin is within five points.
