Playoffs: Dallas Mavericks crush Minnesota Timberwolves to book title showdown with Boston Celtics

The DallasMavericks, fueled by 36 points each from Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, routed the MinnesotaTimberwolves124-103 on Thursday to clinch the Western Conference crown andbookanNBAtitleshowdownwith the BostonCeltics.

Denied a sweep at home on Tuesday, the Mavs left no room for doubt in Minneapolis as they wrapped up the best-of-seven conference finals 4-1 to return to theNBAFinals for the first time since they won thetitlein 2011.

TheCelticswill host game one of the championship series on June 6.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Slovenian star Doncic and Irving had their way with the league's top-rated defense, Doncic taking the game by the throat in the opening minutes.

"My mindset was: set the tone," said Doncic, who scored 20 points in a fast-paced first quarter, one more than theTimberwolvesmanaged as a team.

He scored four of his six three-pointers in the first period, including a bomb from the center court logo, and the Mavs closed the quarter on a 17-1 scoring run to put theTimberwolveson their heels for good.

Irving got going with 15 points in the second quarter as he and Doncic combined for 44 first-half points -- four more than theTimberwolvesput on the board before halftime, when the Mavs led 69-40.

Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 28 points each for Minnesota, Towns adding 12 rebounds for the third-seedTimberwolves, who had swept the Phoenix Suns in the first round and stunned the defending champion Denver Nuggets in seven games in the second.

TheTimberwolveshad been 3-0 in elimination games this post-season, with wins in games six and seven against the Nuggets as well as their victory on Tuesday.

But the early damage by Doncic and Dallas' disruptive defense put this one out of reach early and the Mavs grabbed the first double-digit victory of a hard-fought series.

"Luka came out tonight and put his stamp on the game,"Timberwolvescoach Chris Finch said. "Hit a couple of bomb threes, kind of got them loosened up offensively."

Dereck Lively returned for the Mavs after missing game four with a neck sprain suffered when Towns inadvertently kneed him in the back of the head in game three.

ALSO READ |Eng vs Pak: Babar Azam becomes second batter after Virat Kohli to complete 4k runs in men's T20Is

The energetic reserve went down hard again when he took a blow to the back of the head from Naz Reid, who was charged with a flagrant foul shortly before halftime.

He stayed in the game and finished with nine points.

Dallas are in the finals for the third time, chasing a secondtitleto go with the one they captured back in 2011.

TheCeltics, who swept the Indiana Pacers in four games in the Eastern Conference finals, share the record for mostNBAtitles with the Los Angeles Lakers at 17.

They're back in thetitleseries for the second time in three years.