The road team wins again in the Clippers/Mavericks series, giving us a Game 7 on Sunday. What were the keys to tonight’s result?
Los Angeles Clippers 104, Dallas Mavericks 97
Series tied 3-3
It was the only game in town on Friday night, and it delivered on the entertainment value. For the first time in NBA history, the road team has won the first six games of a playoff series.
The Clippers secured this victory with staunch defense and outstanding offensive production from some key players. Kawhi Leonard went off for 45 points on 72.0 percent shooting from the field! He got those points in a variety of ways, as he usual does. There were mid-range pull-ups, layups off cuts to the basket, even a couple of post-ups. To put the cherry on top, he knocked down five 3-pointers. Leonard was truly phenomenal tonight.
The kicker is that Kawhi actually started the game cold, scoring just three points on 1-of-3 shooting in the first quarter. In the interim, Reggie Jackson was the one to come through and be a spark plug. He scored 14 of his 25 total points, making his first six shots in the opening period.
Paul George chipped in 20 points, distributing his total fairly evenly across quarters. He also grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out a team-high six assists. The other two starters (Marcus Morris and Nicolas Batum) combined for 10 points while the bench only had four total. But when your top three players combine for 90 points and the rest of the team focuses on the defensive end, that’s basically all you need.
Dallas kept pace through the first three quarters, leading 77-73 at the end of the third. Head coach Rick Carlisle once looked to utilize his team’s size advantage by once again starting Boban Marjanovic. Boban did put up some strong minutes, scoring 12 points and pulling in nine rebounds in 17 minutes.
From there, the game was pretty much entirely in Luka’s hands. For the first three quarters, he did a good job facilitating, balancing looking for his own shot with spraying it out to willing shooters. It was just a matter of if his teammates would answer the call when it was kicked to them. For instance, Tim Hardaway Jr. (23 points on the night) and Dorian Finney-Smith (11 points) hit some crucial spot-up treys when Doncic set the ball their way. Luka had 17 points and 10 assists through the first 36 minutes.
Then things fell apart for the Mavericks in the fourth. The Clippers outscored them 31-20 in the last frame. LA went 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) from the field, led by Kawhi’s 12 points and Paul George’s 8 points. Dallas couldn’t keep up, and the Clipper defense prevented Luka from creating anything effective off of drives. Their energy made such an impression on Doncic, that at times it felt like he was passing up shots even when he would create space and get open.
The Mavs went just 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) from the field in the fourth. Doncic had a team-high 12 points in the quarter, but the rest of his teammates couldn’t get going. Luka finished the night with 29 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds.
So we will get our first Game 7 of the 2021 NBA Playoffs on Sunday. If the pattern holds, we should end up with a Mavericks victory. However, if Kawhi, PG, and a third contributor go off like they did tonight — and if they once again clamp down on Dallas’ heliocentric offense — then the Los Angeles Clippers may be the ones that end up advancing to play the Utah Jazz.
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