Timberwolves' All-Stars rise to the occasion with the season on the line

The Minnesota Timberwolves took over in the final minutes. They found a way to fend off elimination by escaping with a narrow 105-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.

Despite struggling in crunch time throughout the first three losses of this series, the Timberwolves finished Game 4 on an impressive 16-10 run in the last six minutes to take down the Mavericks and keep the season alive.

Karl-Anthony Towns bounced back from a poor shooting performance in Game 3 with a series-high 25 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc, highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers to put Minnesota ahead by five points midway through the final frame.

Anthony Edwards knocked down a series of clutch shots, including a pull-up jumper with 38.8 seconds left to seal the Timberwolves' victory en route to finishing with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists.

It will be essential for Edwards and Towns to continue to play at a high level on offense but the biggest difference maker in Game 4 was the Timberwolves' defense on Dallas star tandem Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving.

Chris Finch’s coaching staff decided to start Edwards on Dončić and switch Jaden McDaniels onto Irving, and it resulted in the Mavericks scoring just 36 points in the paint and shooting a series-low 42.0 percent from the field.

Dončić and Irving averaged a combined 60.3 points per game in the first three matchups, but the Timberwolves held them to a total of just 44 points on 13-of-39 shooting from the field in Game 4.

Even though there’s still a long way to go to complete a historic comeback in this series, Minnesota regained momentum with a road win and will return home for a critical Game 5 on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. CT.