So much for that potentially historic Timberwolves comeback.
The Mavs quickly ended any thoughts of a Minnesota push with a first-quarter Luka Dončić barrage, and just like that, the Dallas Mavericks were headed back to the NBA Finals.
In the end, there wasn't much to discuss in Game 5. It ended 124-103, but the final margin of 21 may as well have been 50 or 100 the way this one felt.
Minnesota looked shaky from the start and never really got into a rhythm.
Rudy Gobert got up seven first-quarter shots, his most in any quarter in his playoff career. Jaden McDaniels was in foul trouble all game and played only 21 minutes. Mike Conley played just 21 minutes too with a calf injury that had him questionable. Kyle Anderson took four 3s. Naz Reid shot 2-of-10.
Anthony Edwards scored 28 on 10-of-18, but no one else showed up. Non-Edwards Wolves shot 23-of-63 before garbage time, a dismal 36.5% from the field.
None of that is Timberwolves basketball.
Neither was whatever you want to call Minnesota's defensive effort Thursday night. A team that prided itself on historically elite defense all season just didn't have the same verve or energy in Game 5. Dallas made 62% of its 2s, never mind the 44% on 3s.
Player after Minnesota player said after Game 4 that they were just relieved to not get swept. Unfortunately, the Wolves came out in Game 5 and played like it.
Minnesota looked like it just didn't want to go out in four. So it went out in five instead.
It's still the second-greatest season in Timberwolves history by a wide margin, but it ends on a sour note.
But Thursday night wasn't about the Wolves, not for more than a few minutes. Thursday night was a coronation of Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks, and it came quickly.
Dončić scored the first bucket for Dallas, then hit a 31-foot 3-pointer his next time down. He hit another 3 a minute later, then added another step-back jumper to hit 12 points in 2.5 minutes. Later in the quarter, he hit another pair of 3s under a minute apart, talking smack to a suddenly quiet fan sitting courtside.
When the quarter ended, the nets were on fire and the Timberwolves were not. Dončić had outscored the Wolves by himself, 20 to 19. Dallas was up by 16, and the Mavs never really looked back.
Kyrie Irving had only four points in the first quarter but erupted for 32 over the remaining three quarters. Rookie Dereck Lively II, aka Sideshow Lob, returned from injury to play 25 efficient minutes. He finished the series 16-of-16 from the field and 4-0 in games he played.
Dallas was not way better for four mostly coin-flip games, but the Mavs were far better than the Wolves in Game 5 and took care of business quickly.
Now Dallas gets a full week off before the NBA Finals, and it's an important week. Lively and Maxi Kleber get an extra week to get healthy, and don't forget that Dončić has been battling injuries all postseason, too.
Dallas badly needed to take care of business and get this week off, especially after a much more difficult path to the Finals than the opponent they'll meet there.
For the Mavericks, it's a third trip to the Finals in two decades, and there's no shortage of story lines.
Kristaps Porziņģis, you might recall, once played for these Mavs. Dallas traded a pair of firsts and a package of players for the Latvian big man and got two-and-a-half seasons out of him, but Porziņģis never won a playoff series in Dallas before he exited the team on a sour note.
Speaking of leaving on a sour note, Kyrie Irving.
Irving played for the Celtics five years ago, the same year Dallas traded for Porziņģis. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were 20 and 22 then, young pups. Irving did win a couple playoff series, but the Celtics made the conference finals with him sidelined, then felt short with him healthy, and Boston has played 16 playoff series since he left.
There are still remnants from both histories, of course. Tim Hardaway Jr. came over in the Porziņģis trade. Tatum and Brown are Boston's stars now. The teams are very different now, but the pain is still just recent enough to be fresh.
Forget the pain, though. One of these teams is about to celebrate.
Luka Dončić has long been The Next Big Thing in the NBA. Now, he finally makes his first NBA Finals, fresh off a WCF MVP, with a chance to win it all.
And if he doesn't, it will finally be the culmination of what has been six conference finals berths in eight seasons for this historic Boston franchise, chasing its 18th banner for 16 seasons now and looking to add only its second title in 38 years.
Boston was a dominant force all season long. Luka is The Prince That Was Promised.
Winter is coming.
See you in the NBA Finals.
