Live from Game 3: Timberwolves, Dallas meet in Western Conference playoffs

The Timberwolves and Dallas are playing tonight in Dallas, with the Mavericks leading the best-of-7 series 2-0. Staff writer Chris Hine is filing live reports from American Airlines Arena:

Statistics and play-by-play from Game 3

8:09 p.m.: Wolves trail at half, but Mavs lose a key player

Karl-Anthony Towns missed his first seven shots of the night and went 2-for-10 in the first half as the Wolves trail Dallas 60-52 at halftime. Towns missed all five of his three pointers.

But Dallas suffered a significant injury to its frontline as Dereck Lively left the game because of a neck injury with 8 minutes, 35 seconds to play in the second.

As Lively fell to the floor going for a rebound, his head collided with the knee of Towns, snapping his neck forward. Lively remained on the floor for several moments during a timeout and he needed help getting off the floor as he struggled to maintain his balance. He exited with six points on 3-for-3 shooting with three rebounds and is questionable to return.

Lively was 13-for-13 in the series before leaving; earlier in the game he took a Towns knee to the groin as the Wolves big man drove to the rim..

Luka Doncic of the Mavs and Rudy Gobert exchanged pleasantries later in the quarter on consecutive plays after they got tangled up on a rebound and around a screen. Doncic had some words for Gobert after he hit the game-winning three over him in Game 2. Both teams had unsuccessful challenges in the first half.

Edwards and Jaden McDaniels had 12 points to lead the Wolves.

Dallas shot 54% for the half as Doncic led them with 15.

7:33 p.m.: Wolves trail after one, Conley visits locker room

Before Sunday’s Game 3, Wolves coach Chris Finch said the message for Karl-Anthony Towns was to play slower while he wanted Anthony Edwards to play quicker.

Edwards had nine first-quarter points but Towns could not get on track as the Wolves trailed Dallas 33-28 after one.

Wolves point guard Mike Conley went to the locker room during the quarter; he had been playing despite a calf injury. He was back shortly after.

Edwards was 3-for-6 from the field while Towns went 0-for-3 in the quarter. Luka Doncic had eight early points for Dallas.

Dallas came out with a burst in its home arena as the Mavericks hit their first three threes of the night and Edwards got off to a rocky start with a turnover, a brick and one of two free throws after a drive.

Edwards hit his next two shots and the Wolves got threes from Conley and Jaden McDaniels and pulled within 15-13 at a timeout with 6:01 to play.

The Wolves got seven first-quarter points from McDaniels who found success with his mid-range jumper from about 10 feet, but the Wolves defense had little answer for the Mavericks offense, which shot 11-for-19.

6:36 p.m. Tip-off nears

Dallas starters are point guard Luka Doncic (playoff stats: 28.0 scoring, 9.4 rebounds, 9.3 assists), shooting guard Kyrie Irving (21.6 points, 5.4 assists), small forward Derrick Jones (10.1 points), power forward P.J. Washington(13.9 points) and center Daniel Gafford (9.2 points, 5.7 rebounds). Center Dereck Lively is averaging 8.7 points off the bench.

For the Wolves, it’s point guard Mike Conley (11.4 points, 6.1 assists), shooting guard Anthony Edwards (27.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists), small forward Jaden McDaniels (12.5 points), power forward Karl-Anthony Towns (18.3 points, 8.9 rebounds) and center Rudy Gobert (12.5 points, 10.5 rebounds). Naz Reid is averaging 11.7 points off the bench.

Referees are Tony Brothers (crew chief), Ben Taylor and Curtis Blair. The last time they had the Wolves it was Game 3 of the Denver series, which the Wolves lost at home.

The game is televised on TNT, with tip schedule for 7 p.m.

Morning shootaround recap: Anthony Edwards says he’ll be ultra aggressive

One of the defining characteristics of Anthony Edwards on and off the court is the infectious joy with which he approaches every aspect of his life. You’ll rarely find Edwards in a bad mood, no matter the circumstances.

But Edwards said after the first two games of the Western Conference finals, he lost a little bit of the joy in playing basketball as he has gone through some scoring struggles.

“I probably been getting away from having fun out there,” Edwards said at shootaround before Game 3. “Just letting my misses and stuff get in my head. I just got to get back to having fun, playing with joy, with a smile on my face.”

Edwards is 11-for-33 so far in this series and vowed he would be more aggressive, attack the basket more and take more shots in Game 3 than he has so far.

“Y’all gonna see tonight. It’s gonna be a lot of shoots,” Edwards said. “… I’m gonna be super aggressive. I haven’t took more than 16 shots in each game. So, I’mma be ultra aggressive coming out, for sure.”

Edwards said the atmosphere around the team was still positive and upbeat despite the Wolves losing two games at home they could have won.

“Everybody in a good mood, especially myself,” Edwards said. “We dropped two games. We gave them two games. We’re pretty confident.”