Dončić flirted with a triple-double, meanwhile, finishing with 24 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

Oh, and how’s this for the dagger?

Edwards was incredible through the first 12 minutes, putting up 24 points. He cooled off a bit from there, however, perhaps impacted in part by a tough fall to the floor at one point in the first half.

Julius Randle (20 points, seven rebounds, seven assists) tried to pick up some of the slack, but the Wolves simply didn’t have any consistent answers for Irving’s scoring and Dončić’s playmaking, even as Dončić himself had to shake off what appeared to be a leg injury.

That duo received its fair share of the love on social media following the win:

Minnesota fans are getting sick and tired of seeing the Irving and Dončić duo. The pair torched the Timberwolves during last season’s Western Conference Finals, wrapping up the series in five games. Dončić averaged 32.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists in that series, while Irving added 27 points per game.

The Wolves didn’t do themselves many favors on Tuesday night, committing 20 turnovers, though they somewhat offset it with 33 assists and 19-of-39 shooting from three. Ultimately, however, the same thing that ended their 2023-24 season proved to be an issue early in this campaign—they simply had no answers for Luka and Kyrie.

In their defense, few teams do.