Timberwolves shake off fourth-quarter woes in avoiding sweep

Game 1: Outscored by four in the fourth quarter of a 108-105 loss. 

Game 2: Outscored by eight in the fourth quarter of a 109-108 loss. 

Game 3: Outscored by nine in the fourth quarter of a 116-107 loss.

The Timberwolves twice took the lead into the fourth quarter against the Mavericks only to squander the advantage and were tied entering the final period in another loss. Chris Finch's team finally shook off its late-game woes on Tuesday.

Mike Conley, who had 14 points, seven assists and four steals in the 105-100 win, credited his team's poise and composure in the fourth quarter as they staved off elimination.  

"The first three games have been decided in the last three or four minutes," Conley told ESPN's "SportsCenter with SVP" after the win. "We knew we had to take care of those last four of five minutes to win the game. Anthony Edwards and KAT [Karl-Anthony Towns] really carried us down the stretch, made plays for us, and offset what Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving do. It's not a sweep, we're going home to try to bring this back to Dallas [for Game 6]."

To Conley's point, Edwards and Towns combined for 16 fourth-quarter points, outscoring the star duo of Irving and Doncic for the first time in the series, albeit by just three points. In comparison, the Mavericks tandem outscored the Timberwolves duo 21-4 in Game 3, 18-6 in Game 2 and 19-11 in Game 1.  

While the always humble Conley credited his All-Star duo for carrying the Timberwolves to the win, he played just as critical a role. The veteran guard had four timely steals to stall Dallas' momentum in key stretches. He also made two clutch free throws down the stretch to ice the game for his team.