To hear Luka Doncic describe it, the Dallas Mavericks¡¯ victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals resembled a relay race.

Kyrie Irving burst out of the starting gate with 24 first-half points to keep Dallas in contention. Doncic took the baton at halftime and helped the Mavericks earn a 108-105 win by scoring 15 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

¡°Amazing,¡± Doncic said. ¡°(Kyrie) got us going. Without him, we¡¯d probably be down 20 at halftime, so he got us going. So I had to help him in the second half a little bit.¡±

Irving finished with 30 points on 12-for-23 shooting for Dallas. Daniel Gafford (10 points, nine rebounds) and Dereck Lively II (nine points, 11 rebounds) narrowly missed double-doubles.

Jaden McDaniels scored 24 points and made 6 of 9 attempts from beyond the arc to lead the Timberwolves. Anthony Edwards finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 16.

The Mavericks, who shot 49.4% from the field for the game, outscored Minnesota 26-22 in the fourth quarter to help secure the three-point win.

Edwards said he and his teammates struggled to maintain their energy level for the full 48 minutes. He acknowledged that the team¡¯s comeback win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 in the conference semifinals on Sunday might have sapped some of their energy.

¡°Yeah, for sure,¡± Edwards said. ¡°You all can see it. We were a step behind everybody, especially myself. Kyrie got a transition layup ... and he just outran me. I was just exhausted. So yeah, for sure. But we¡¯ll be all right.¡±

Dallas went on a 13-0 run to seize a 97-89 lead with 7:38 to go. Doncic started the run with seven straight points and finished it with a pair of free throws.

Minnesota, which shot just 42.7% from the field, responded with a 10-1 run to grab a 99-98 edge with 4:39 left. Towns hit a 3-pointer to put the Timberwolves on top.

After a timeout, Edwards made a 3-pointer to increase Minnesota¡¯s lead to 102-98 with 3:37 to play.

The Mavericks answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Doncic and P.J. Washington to go ahead 104-102 with 1:56 left. Doncic followed with a step-back jump shot to make it 106-102 with 49.2 seconds to go.

Dallas maintained the lead the rest of the way.

The teams will reconvene on Friday night for Game 2.

¡°That¡¯s only one,¡± Doncic said. ¡°We¡¯ve got three more to go.¡±