The Dallas Mavericks had the privilege of playing on Christmas Day for the eighth time in franchise history and fifth consecutive year. Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves was also Luka Doncic’s fourth Christmas game, and in last year’s game against the Phoenix Suns he scored an impressive 50 points and 15 assists. How would he follow it up in this game?

Dallas started their new favorite starters Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington and Dereck Lively II. Minnesota started Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert.

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The game began with duel dunks from Rudy Gobert and Dereck Lively II, followed by duel three-pointers from Luka Doncic and Anthony Edwards. Doncic had eight of Dallas’ first 10 points and the game was tied at 10. Anthony Edwards was in complete control of the game early on and had eight points and four assists as the Wolves opened with a five-point lead.

After a few scoreless minutes for both teams, Dallas finally regained the 21:19 lead with a three-pointer from Quentin Grimes at the top. But the Timberwolves ended the first quarter with a 7-0 run and took a 26-24 lead in the second quarter despite Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic combining for 19 points.

Klay Thompson made two three-pointers early in the second quarter, tying Reggie Miller for the all-time three-point leader, but Minnesota still held a small lead at three to six early in the quarter. After two consecutive threes from Donte DiVincenzo (42-33), that lead would increase to nine.

Luka Doncic left the game after suffering some type of non-contact lower-body injury as the Timberwolves went on an 8-0 run to take a 15-point lead. The crowd was already a little out of the game, but you could hear a pin drop as he limped back to the locker room. It also took the life out of the Mavs’ offense as they failed to make a field goal in the final five minutes of the half, allowing Minnesota to take a 57-40 lead at halftime. Their 16-point second quarter was their lowest-scoring period of the season.

READ MORE: Luka Doncic leaves Mavericks-Timberwolves Christmas game with non-contact injury

The third quarter continued to be all about Minnesota as they built an early 22-point lead with a 7-2 start. An offense that came into the game struggling was firing on all cylinders. Trying to keep Dallas’ offense going, Kyrie Irving lost Jaden McDaniels on a crossover, which helped cut the lead to 16. A few minutes later, however, Rudy Gobert stared at Kyrie Irving for a lob, making it 20.

That lead continued to grow when Spencer Dinwiddie missed an open layup and Minnesota missed on the other end. They got everything they wanted and were able to build a lead of up to 28 points by the end of the quarter. They led 90-68 early in the fourth period, shot 14/22 from the floor in the third and featured strong performances from Dallas native Julius Randle.

The Mavericks began the fourth quarter with a quick 8-1 run and cut the lead to 15 with 10 minutes left, marking the first time the crowd was in the game since the start. That forced Chris Finch to call a timeout to try to calm the situation before Dallas could really make it a game.

But this time out didn’t work at first. Thanks to Maxi Kleber’s second three-pointer of the game and some magic from Kyrie Irving, they cut the lead to nine, 97-88, with about five minutes left.

After Klay Thompson hit Anthony Edwards on a drive, Kyrie Irving hit an and-one plus the free throw to increase the lead to six with just under four minutes left. Then PJ Washington hit a three-pointer from the corner to increase the lead to five. Two free throws from Irving after a review pushed the lead to three, one possession, with 2:15 left.

PJ Washington had an open three-pointer from the corner that missed with just over 1:35 left, and Anthony Edwards extended the lead to five on the next possession. Klay Thompson responded with a three at the top of the key to reach second, and then they got a steal with 48.5 left.

Kyrie Irving missed a pull-up three for the lead with about 30 seconds left, and then Anthony Edwards hit a layup to go up by four with 18.6 seconds left. Klay Thompson missed an inbounds three-pointer in the corner and Dallas’ comeback push would narrowly fail, with the Wolves winning 105-99 and Minnesota making the most of this rematch in the Western Conference Finals.

Kyrie Irving had the team on his back after Luka Doncic’s departure and scored 39 points on 14/27 shooting. The Mavs’ next leading scorer was Doncic with 14 points, who left the game before halftime. Klay Thompson with 12 points and Quentin Grimes with 10 were the only other Mavs with double figures.

Anthony Edwards led the Wolves with 26 points, followed closely by Julius Randle with 23 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Rudy Gobert (14 points, 10 rebounds), Donte DiVincenzo (11 points) and Mike Conley (10) also scored in double figures.

Next up, Dallas heads to back-to-back games, playing at Phoenix on Friday before a quick trip to Portland on Saturday.

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