The season is over. Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns tried to claw their squad back up against the Dallas Mavericks but it was to no avail. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving just took turns trying to pick apart the Minnesota Timberwolves defense which led to a 124-103 loss. Surprisingly enough, it worked for the fifth time in this NBA Playoffs series. There was not much that this squad could do to prevent the inevitable. But, a helpful bench with better defensive execution and offensive production would have helped.

The first problem for the Timberwolves happened immediately in the first quarter. They allowed the Mavericks to go all over the place and score buckets on them. Whether it was the corner three or taking advantage of Rudy Gobert who looked lost inside the paint, Luka Doncic's squad was just throwing haymakers left and right. Chris Finch's schemes could not contain the kickouts nor could their coverages produce better closeouts in this period. The result? The Timberwolves kept eating punches that they could not throw back which led to a 19-point first period that was dwarfed by the Mavericks' 35 points.

It was the same story in the second half. There were not many adjustments. Except this time, the Mavericks noticed that the perimeters were fairly open. Those kick outs from the first? Well, the Mavericks started knocking them down. It all ended with Jason Kidd's team scoring 34 while Chris Finch's squad only ever sank six field goals for 21 points.

Then, the white flag from the Timberwolves was not yet waved. The third quarter was very different. Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns took matters into their own hands to stay afloat. Unfortunately, there just was not any way they could have won with the game clock situation despite winning this quarter 33 to 28. They followed it up by winning the fourth by being up three points as the Mavericks only got 27.

Two Timberwolves were trusted but didn't deliver

Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) during the second quarter in game five of the western conference finals for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Target Center.
Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Notably, only two players for the Timberwolves were able to score double-digit numbers. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards combined for 56 points. This failure to keep the ball rolling into different finishers and scorers led to their early downfall in the first half. No one else showed up when it was needed most in this NBA Playoffs matchup. But, two trusted players stood out.

Naz Reid, the league's Sixth Man of the Year, was expected to produce for the Timberwolves. He played 27 minutes but only sank two field goals for them. The fact that he could not sink a single one of his three-pointers in a spaced-out offense hurt them too. By the end of it, he was -14 with five points and three turnovers alongside four rebounds. Luka Garza ended up having more points on better shooting splits than Reid.

The other person was Kyle Anderson. While he was expected to have more of an all-around role, his 33 minutes of play did not justify only scoring seven points. Only Towns and Edwards played more minutes than him and they got more scoring outputs. He ended the game with a meager seven points but did fairly well with a steal and a block. He also got three assists and rebounds. His lack of lateral mobility allowed for some easy blow-bys which led to the Timberwolves' burial in these NBA Playoffs.