Three Thoughts - Mavs told Not Yet in Gm 4

Minnesota extends their season by stars carrying the game late and stopping Dallas.

They say that the toughest win to get in the series is the final one. The best of seven series has symmetry that is perfect in every way. It offers such an exhausting battle where each side is compelled to keep grinding until they have nothing left to grind.

It is “the first team to four” and while nothing is easy, the most difficult is often the death blow. Dallas thought it would eventually get it on Tuesday Night, but in the end they could not work their normal mastery of “clutch time” and were on the losing side.

Dallas lost Game 4 to Minnesota, 105-100, in front of a thundering crowd who was ready to celebrate a berth in the NBA Finals. Alas, while they have four shots at securing the last win, they will need at least two to get it as Minnesota pulls within three-games-to-one in this series that has had four close finishes in four games. Game 5 shifts back to Minneapolis on Thursday Night and Dallas will chase its Western Conference Title again on that occasion.

But, there will be no sweep and there will be no easy large rest and recovery period.

These are My Three Thoughts:

–For whatever reason, nothing looked easy in Game 4 for the way the Mavericks were playing on offense. They shot poorly and when both of your snipers shoot 33% from the field as Luka Doncic was 7 for 21 and Kyrie Irving was 6 for 18 for a combined 13 for 39, you are probably not going to be able to find success unless everything else goes well. It did not.