Dallas at Minnesota 8:30 ET
Mavericks (+) over Timberwolves- The Dallas Mavericks were here two years ago, only to get bounced in five games by the eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Minnesota is coming off a Game 7 win against the reigning champion Denver Nuggets in the conference semifinals. The Timberwolves trailed by 20 points early in the second half before storming back to knock off the Nuggets on the road. Dallas beat the Los Angeles Clippers in six games in the conference quarterfinals, and it toppled the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in six games in the semifinals. The Mavericks went 2-1 at home and 2-1 on the road in each series. Minnesota won the regular-season series 3-1, but Dallas played shorthanded in most of those contests because of injuries. The teams have met only once in the playoffs before this series. In 2002, the Mavericks swept the Timberwolves in a three-game first-round series. Take DALLAS