Timberwolves escape Dallas with their first win in the Western Conference Finals, beat the Mavericks 105-100

The Timberwolves and Mavericks play tonight in Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Finals, with Dallas leading the series 3-0. Staff writer Chris Hayne reports live from American Airlines Arena.

Gameview, with live statistics and match information

10:11 p.m.: The Wolves escape Dallas after a tense fourth quarter

DALLAS — Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals was a similar story to the first three — with the Wolves taking a fourth-quarter lead as the game entered its final minutes. This time, Wolves was able to write a different ending and avoid elimination with a 105-100 victory over the Mavericks to continue their season.

Game 5 will return to Target Center on Thursday with Dallas leading 3-1.

Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards played their best games of the series and were able to hit enough shots in the fourth quarter for the Wolves to stay alive and extend the series a little longer.

Edwards finished with 29 points, including multiple key buckets in the final minutes while Towns had a big night with 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting before fouling out with 1 minute, 38 seconds to play.

With the Wolves leading 100-97, Edwards hit a long layup from the right wing to give them a five-point lead with 39.7 seconds left, providing enough of a boost in the final moments.

Towns and Edwards were a combined 20-for-38, outscored by Luke Doncic (28 points) and Kyrie Irving (16 points), who were 13-for-39.

By 8:42 of the fourth quarter, Towns and Gobert had each committed five fouls. The Wolves elected to ride with both as the Mavericks tied the score at 83. That proved beneficial as Towns buried a pair of threes to give the Wolves a 95-90 lead with 5:04 to play.

Gobert went to the foul line to give the Wolves a seven-goal lead but missed both free throws. At the other end, Wolves were unable to block the rebound resulting in Daniel Gafford scoring a dunk. The Wolves’ next possession featured a lot of dribbling from Edwards, but he hit Towns for another three that put the Wolves up by six with 2:54 remaining.

Towns fouled out with 1:38 to play when he fouled Doncic while attempting three free throws, and Doncic hit all three free throws to cut the Wolves’ lead to 100-95. But Wolves would not relinquish their late lead on this night.

9:27 p.m.: Towns has five fouls, but the Wolves lead by five in the fourth quarter

In each round of the playoffs, Anthony Edwards praised Karl-Anthony Towns when Towns would stay out of trouble, because the Wolves needed Towns to advance that far in the postseason.

But in Game 4, foul trouble haunted Towns and even Edwards himself a bit.

Towns committed five fouls in 22 minutes, giving the Wolves a 78-73 lead over the Mavericks at the end of the third period. Towns was on a roll offensively before he came away with 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting.

Edwards committed four fouls and the Wolves used their challenge in vain to try to flip Edwards’ fourth foul on Daniel Gafford. Then Rudy Gobert also got his fourth goal with just over two minutes left in the quarter.

With Dallas leading 59-56, Gobert and Jones tangled on the screen, the two hitting boxes and exchanging words after the play. Technical errors were issued for both.

Towns picked up an offensive foul on No. 4 with 7:09 left in the quarter, but the Wolves elected to leave him in the game. Towns responded with six points in the Wolves’ 8-0 win that gave them a 66-62 lead heading into the clock with 5:39 left in the game.

But it wasn’t long before error #5 came too. Towns elbowed Dallas forward P.J. Washington while pumping up a shot fake at the 4:59 mark. Wolves coach Chris Finch also caught a technician arguing about the call.

The Mavericks converted 13 Wolves turnovers into 28 points. The Wolves have largely kept Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving through three; They were a combined 9-for-27.

8:39 p.m.: Timberwolves push for turnovers and fouls, but still tied at half

Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert each picked up three fouls in the first half, and the Wolves gave up a 12-point lead to go into the locker room tied 49-49.

The Wolves’ defense held Dallas to just 37% shooting, but the Mavericks went 8-for-19 from the three-point line, helping them close out the game against a Wolves team that shot 47% but made just four threes.

Eight Wolves turnovers led to 18 points for the Mavs.

Edwards finished the first half with 17 points, but the Wolves nearly gave up a 30-20 lead in the opening minutes of the quarter. They regrouped to take a 42-34 lead behind 13 first-half points from Mike Conley, but a pair of Derrick Jones triples led Dallas on an 8-0 run to tie the score at 42.

The Wolves had to play the final 2:40 without Towns, Gobert and Edwards. The score was tied at 45-45 at the time, and it remained that way for the rest of the half, as Wolverhampton prevented the Dallas team from exploiting those minutes.

Doncic has 17 points on 4-for-13 shooting but has three threes and is 6-for-6 from the free throw line. The Wolves had a 22-10 paint edge.

8:03 p.m.: Anthony Edwards leads Wolves to lead in first quarter

With 14 points from Anthony Edwards, the Timberwolves led the Mavericks 27-20 after the first quarter.

At the start of the night, the Wolves switched up their primary defensive matchups, with Edwards guarding Luka Doncic and Jaden McDaniels having Kyrie Irving. Doncic started the game strong with eight early points as the Mavericks tied the Wolves 10-10 midway through the quarter.

But after Dwight Powell checked in for Daniel Gafford — during a time when an injured Derek Lively would normally be in the game — the Wolves successfully attacked the rim. Minnesota went on a 10-0 run to take a 20-10 lead with 2 minutes and 50 seconds left. Mike Conley had three steals in the quarter.

Edwards had scoring success at all levels, hitting three goals from mid-range and getting to the rim. He attempted eight free throws in the quarter, though he missed three.

Dallas shot 6-for-29 from the field and no player outside of Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving made a field goal in the first quarter until the 1:29 mark.

The Wolves were 10-for-16 but had five turnovers, including a bad one by Edwards with seconds left that enabled the Mavs to finish the quarter on an 8-3 run.

5:25 p.m.: Shootout chatter about Kat being shot

While Karl-Anthony Towns was speaking to the media after the Timberwolves’ shooting on Tuesday morning, Anthony Edwards walked past the crowd and shouted “KAT hits eight threes tonight, for whatever you ask for it.”

“That’s an expectation there,” Towns said. “That would be nice.”

If the Wolves are going to extend the series against Dallas, they need Towns to shake off his struggles in this series and return to the player who helped them win the series against the Nuggets.

Towns is 15-for-54 so far in the series, and is 3-for-22 from three-point range. Towns said he wasn’t trying to do anything out of the ordinary to start Game 4.

“I know I put in a lot of effort, so I’m confident going out and shooting the ball and the plan, as always, is to see it go through the net,” Towns said.

As for the team’s mentality in general in the face of elimination, Towns said that the team did not lose its belief in the possibility of returning to the series, especially since they faced elimination against Denver and came back to win the series.

“I know when this series got to 3-2 I heard a lot of rumblings — not from the outside but just people in general around town or around us. And the series ended up being up to a lot of people. But everyone in our locker room believes so as long as everyone is in “The locker room believes, anything is possible with us.”

Wolves coach Chris Finch has confidence in Towns: “I told him the past has nothing to do with the future. Trust your talent. Be confident… shots will fall.”

4:16 p.m.: Injury report

For Dallas, Derek Lively II will likely be out after suffering a neck sprain in Game 3, but the Mavericks could get an additional boost on their front line in Maxi Kleber, who could return from a shoulder injury for Game 4. The Clipper was upgraded to questionable prior to Game 4 while Lively was listed as questionable.

If the Wolves can force a Game 5, it will be Thursday night at Target Center.