The NBA’s exclusive season schedule produced a significant number of so-called “miniseries”. That is, two teams playing against each other. It’s not quite a complete playoff series on its own, but certainly a lot more continuity in the season that you normally find from game to game.
That was the case here, when Dallas faced again against the LA Clippers, but with much more favorable results. Luka Doncic was a possessed man, ending with a 42-point line, nine assists and six rebounds, but more on that later. The Clippers achieved solid and balanced production from their tandem superstar Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, who scored 20 and 28 points, respectively, but it was not enough to take Dallas down tonight.
A Luka masterpiece
What can you say? In a game in which the team scored just 105 points (just a slightly weird modifier here with the three-digit score, but that’s modern NBA basketball for you), Luka Doncic scored 42 points. This is 40% of the total offensive production of a single player. It doesn’t matter that it is also the engine that creates opportunities for your teammates. On top of all this, Doncic was an admirable defender and found his way on pass lanes several times in this game, resulting in three steals.
It was a 40-minute marathon. Only when it looked like Matador might be starting to wilt in the third quarter did he resurface to a point of 11, slamming doors in the fourth period. He just wouldn’t be interrupted tonight. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Tim Hardaway Jr. could have ended up with Luka’s indescribably slippery slip pass. Not only would it have given him 10 assists in the night, but it would also have been a great Top Shot for some lunatic to spend $ 50,000.
So can we play defense?
Something about the LA Clippers brings out the best NBA defensive force of the 90s from the Dallas Mavericks. The team conquered opponents with less than 100 points just eight times, and two came from their three games against the Clippers. In addition, these two Clippers games are perhaps the two best defensive performances of the year.
LA averages 115 points per game this season. It is the eighth highest position in the league. The Mavericks kept the team with 73 and 89 points. Even in their only loss to LA this year, they gave up just 109. Maybe it’s because of the series of playoffs in the bubble, but when Dallas takes the field with Los Angeles, they are ready to play in defending the caliber of the playoffs. It was a fantastic team effort, but Josh Richardson deserves to be highlighted specifically. His energy forced two laps in the backcourt and he was flying around the court all night.
Resilience in the second half
While the final score alludes to being a comfortable dubbing, this was not always the case at some points in the second half – in particular the third half. There were two separate cases in which the Clippers made it 8-0, including a stretch moved to Paul George to close the quarter. Far from letting the grind deter his effort, the Mavericks responded well in both cases with their own runs. The way they opened the fourth quarter was especially promising, as they had every opportunity to bow their heads when LA refused to hand over the ghost.
In the end, Dallas overcame LA in the third and fourth quarters and never let an annoying Clipper team mount a major threat in the end. In fact, Dallas kept the Clippers goalless in the final 2:20 of the game, just as an extra precaution.
Bank under siege
Dallas reserves contributed only 11 points from the bank. Not wanting to take anything away from a big win, but if there is a nit to choose from, it would be the lack of production from our bank tonight. It is within Luka’s competence to go out for more than 40 on any given night, but it would be nice if he had a little more support than that.
It may be a little unfair point. This was a game with few goals. And Hardaway, the bank’s attacking goal, was promoted to starter, with Dorian Finney-Smith away for the birth of his son. As such, his 15 points went to the first team, leaving only Brunson, Burke and Cauley-Stein to put five, two and four points per piece.