On Wednesday night in Minneapolis, the Western Conference finals will begin between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks.
As unlikely as that matchup might have seemed before this season, it’s almost here. Mavericks beat writer Tim Cato and Timberwolves beat writer Jon Krawczynski discuss what they expect to see once this series gets rolling.
Cato: Jon, the NBA will crown a new champion for the sixth consecutive season. It could be one of these two teams. It should be a thrilling series. It absolutely will not look like any of the four regular-season games these teams played.
That normal starting point is all but useless. Dallas twice fielded ghost lineups — no Luka Dončić or Kyrie Irving — in two regular-season defeats. It lost another matchup with Dončić and without Irving. Dallas beat Minnesota in early January, the only game in which both its superstars played, but that victory came before its trade deadline transformation. Minnesota’s regular-season games against the Denver Nuggets built excitement for that series. Against Dallas, they only created mystery.
Let’s start with what we know: Dončić is the best offensive player left standing in this postseason, and Minnesota’s defense is utterly ruthless. How will the Timberwolves suppress Dallas’ offense?
Krawczynski: The Timberwolves have been terrific on defense for much of these playoffs, just as they were in the regular season. The Mavericks certainly will be an entirely different matchup than Denver. The Nuggets run everything through their center, Nikola Jokić. The Wolves prevailed in that series because Karl-Anthony Towns did his best to render Jokić mortal (sometimes more successfully than others), and the Wolves’ perimeter defenders held Jamal Murray in check while erasing Michael Porter Jr.
The Mavericks backcourt is much more imposing, even though Murray is a proven playoff killer. Dončić and Irving will put so much pressure on the Wolves guards, but Minnesota is one of the teams best equipped to deal with it. I expect Jaden McDaniels to start on Dončić and Anthony Edwards on Irving. McDaniels has experience guarding Dončić and will be looking forward to the assignment. There will be concerns about foul trouble for McDaniels and exhaustion for Edwards, but this is the Western Conference finals. They can sleep in August. The Wolves also have Nickeil Alexander-Walker as a top-flight option for Irving, though he may not be big enough to handle Dončić.
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