The Dallas Mavericks almost pulled off a Christmas miracle on Wednesday afternoon at the American Airlines Center.

Trailing by as many as 28 points, the Western Conference champions staged a valiant comeback to trail the Minnesota Timberwolves by just two points with a minute left.

However, Anthony Edwards didn’t miss his Christmas debut. The Timberwolves star played the role of the Grinch and stole the Mavericks’ holiday cheer by scoring an acrobatic left-handed layup 18.6 seconds ahead of Kyrie Irving.

It was the final nail in the coffin for the Mavericks, who suffered a 105-99 loss to the Timberwolves.

The Mavericks mounted a furious scoring surge in the fourth quarter, going on a 28-7 run over eight minutes. After losing Luka Doncic to a calf strain in the first half, Irving tried his best to salvage Christmas Day for the Mavericks. Irving was the driving force that helped the Mavericks reduce the deficit. He exploded for 39 points, scoring 15 of those points in the fourth quarter.

The rally’s cheers mirrored the start of the game, as joy filled the atmosphere in the arena at the start of the first quarter as Doncic appeared to be on his way to another memorable Christmas masterpiece.

Fans cheered as he drilled a bevy of jumpers in the first quarter, but a wave of silence spread across the arena in the final moments of the second quarter when Doncic suffered a non-contact injury that led to an early exit.

Doncic went to execute his routine stepback mid-range jump over Jaden McDaniels, but paused after planting his left foot into the ground. The smile Doncic showed in the first quarter quickly turned into a groan as he walked away from the court while holding his left calf – the same calf injury that caused him to miss training camp and the entire preseason. He limped to the locker room and did not return to the game.

Doncic’s injury overshadowed the Mavericks’ struggles on offense and poor defensive performance before their comeback attempt. Dallas entered the game with the fourth-best offense in the NBA, but that efficient performance failed to materialize on Wednesday. The Mavericks shot just 41.9% from the field.

Cynt Marshall was honored before the start of the second quarter to commemorate her retirement after six years as CEO. The Mavericks played a tribute video and she was joined at midfield by Mavericks Governor Patrick Dumont, minority owner Mark Cuban and new CEO Rick Welts.

The Mavericks scored just 16 points in the second quarter, which also coincided with Klay Thompson’s bid to pass Reggie Miller for fifth place on the NBA’s all-time 3-point list. Dallas tried to provide Thompson with as much care as possible during this time.

Thompson came into the game needing two 3-pointers to reach Miller’s mark of 2,560 and three triples to pass him. He made two of his four 3-point attempts in the quarter to reach the mark and solidified himself in the elite five during the Mavericks’ comeback attempt in the fourth quarter.

It also didn’t help that the Timberwolves, led by superstar guard Edwards, looked like they had one of the best offenses in the league. Edwards finished his Christmas debut with 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Dallas native Julius Randle added 23 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Rudy Gobert posted a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The Mavericks received the gift of hosting this year’s Christmas game from the comfort of their home arena after spending last year in the Phoenix desert. The loss drops them to 4-4 in Christmas Day games.

Even more concerning, the joy of the holidays has quickly turned into a cloud of concern about Doncic’s changing status.