Former Arkansas star Daniel Gafford again played a key role in a Dallas win at Minnesota in the Western Conference Finals.
The Mavericks, the No. 5 seed in the West, grabbed a 2-0 series lead over the No. 3 seed Timberwolves on Friday with a 109-108 win thanks to a go-ahead three-pointer from Luka Dončić with less than five seconds remaining. He had a game-high 32 points.
Gafford put together arguably his best performance in 19 career playoff games. He finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocks in 21:05 in the lineup.
Gafford was 8 of 10 from the field, and 5 of his scores were dunks.
In the fourth quarter, Gafford had an impressive sequence in which he blocked a right-wing three-point attempt by Wolves guard Mike Conley then caught a long outlet pass from Dončić on the other end and converted an acrobatic layup. The bucket gave the Mavericks a 96-94 lead with 6 minutes to play.
The forward’s 16 points and five blocks match playoff career highs. He also had 16 points and 5 rejections in Game 1 of the second-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder on May 7.
Dallas returns home for Game 3 on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on TNT.