NBA highlights on May 22: Doncic beats Edwards in superstar contest

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 108-105 in Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday, leading 1-0 in the series.

The role players of both sides performed well, partly because they were in superb form and partly due to the defensive policies of the opponents. For example, Jaden McDaniels drained six triples out of nine attempts to score a team-high 24 points for the Timberwolves. Kyle Anderson (whose Chinese name is Li Kaier) got 11 points in the first half. On the Mavericks' side, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II combined for eight offensive rebounds, more than the Timberwolves' triple towers of Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid.

Coach Jason Kidd made very extreme defensive plans for the Mavericks to leave both Daniels and Anderson open, who were often the responsibilities of Luka Doncic. On one hand, neither Daniels nor Anderson have been known for their individual attacking abilities, especially off the dribble; meanwhile, instead of overloading Doncic with defensive duties, the Mavericks wanted him to save more strength for offense.

That's why both Daniels and Anderson not only always found themselves open outside the 3-point line, but the latter could even wander to the free throw line, looking at the back of Doncic. As a result, the Timberwolves, who ranked 23rd among all 30 teams in 3-point attempts and 15th in 3-pointers made per game during the regular season, went 18-for-49 behind the arc.

Of course, the Mavericks accomplished tangible results with their defense that shut down the Timberwolves in the paint, where they allowed no more than 38 points. By contrast, the Mavericks scored 62 points there. Doncic, Kyrie Irving and Gafford all reached double digits on this front. Derrick Jones Jr. and Lively II both got eight points in the paint as well.

The Mavericks' dominant scoring performance in the paint showed the failure of the Timberwolves' defensive plan. Daniels and Anthony Edwards were responsible for guarding Doncic and Irving, respectively, on the perimeter. Both have good enough size and athleticism for their mission. It was the team's follow-up defensive rotations for screen plays that went wrong.

Four-time Defensive Player of the Year Gobert was the key to the Timberwolves defense of screen plays because he had to make the most important decisions over whether he should switch, drop back or blitz the ball handler. There were advantages and disadvantages, whichever he chose, but Gobert seemed to make more wrong decisions than right ones on Wednesday night.

Neither Doncic nor Irving was double-teamed on most occasions, which meant they could easily break in with one screen from a teammate. Gobert seemed to be dropping back mostly, but he still had to step up to guard Doncic or Irving when they went deep enough. That's when Jones Jr., Gafford and Lively II saw and took chances for open dunks assisted by Doncic or Irving. There were several times in which Gobert chose to stay back to protect the rim, but Doncic and Irving immediately punished him for the choice by making jumpers in the mid-range.

Both Gobert and Doncic were familiar with such mind games as top players in guarding and launching screen plays. Whatever measure Gobert chose, he had a reason to do it, but his teammates on the perimeter and the two wings should take the blame for letting the opponents' ball handler go through easily and failing to rotate in time to help.

Of course, both Doncic and Irving are too smart offensive players to be completely shut down, but their way of running the game with great ease made Edwards look bad at doing his job. After his incredible performance in the previous two rounds of the playoffs, Edwards was already in the NBA's top category in many people's eyes. Nonetheless, his performance in Wednesday's game showed that there's clearly still a gap between him and top aces like Doncic.

Fairly speaking, Edwards' performance of dropping 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists was definitely not bad, but it's confusing for him, a top-three slasher in the league, to get no point at all next to the hoop. The Mavericks had their defenders close in from the two wings and stand in Edwards' route for penetration. He made reasonable calls by passing to open teammates in the two corners. However, when Towns, Mike Conley and Alexander Walker kept missing open 3-pointers, the Timberwolves needed Edwards to shoot and make some "unreasonable" field goals (FGs), like a superstar and like he did in the previous two series. Unfortunately, he failed to do so on Wednesday night.

Game 2 of the series will take place at the same venue, the Target Center, on Friday.