LOS ANGELES – Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving combined for 55 points, and the Dallas Mavericks received some major contributions from their role players en route to defeating the Los Angeles Clippers, 96-93, on Tuesday night at the Cyrpto.com Arena.
The victory gave the Mavs a 1-1 split of this best-of-seven Western Conference first-round playoff series. The Mavs hope to keep up the momentum from Tuesday’s win when they go home to play Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Dončić finished with 32 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Irving added 23 points and six rebounds as the Mavs made amends from Sunday’s 12-point loss in Game 1 of this series. But the Mavs also got 18 points and six rebounds from PJ Washington, 10 points and seven boards from Derrick Jones Jr., seven points and nine rebounds from Dereck Lively II, and six points and six rebounds from Maxi Kleber in dethroning the Clippers.
In snatching homecourt advantage away from the Clippers, the Mavs came out with a more aggressive tone and are now in position to win the series if they just win the three games which are scheduled to be played at American Airlines Center.
Kleber nailed a huge three-pointer which gave the Mavs an 87-81 lead, and Dončić followed with a bulls-eye three-pointer that padded the lead to 90-81 with 1:26 left. A dunk by Ivica Zubac closed the gap to 90-86 with 44.8 seconds to go.
It was still a four-point lead for the Mavs after Washington nailed a couple of free throws and Paul George countered with two charity tosses for the Clippers with 27.4 seconds left. Jones split two free throws, leaving the Mavs with a 93-88 lead with 21.9 seconds remaining.
Then, a critical moment occurred when James Harden scored and Irving was whistled for a foul on the play. Coach Jason Kidd challenged the foul, and after a review by the referees, the challenge by Kidd was deemed successful.
So, instead of Harden going to the free throw line with a chance to trim the Mavs’ lead to two points, the Mavs were able to maintain a 93-90 lead – and the ball – with 20.5 seconds to go.
The good tidings kept on coming for the Mavs as Irving made a free throw with 12 seconds left. But when he missed the second one, Kleber chased it down, leading to Irving getting intentionally fouled again.
This time Irving fired in both free throws with 7.2 seconds left to give the Mavs a 96-90 lead and put this game on ice.
Tuesday was the first game for Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard since March 31, meaning he missed the previous nine games before playing in Game 2. But the Mavs had been awaiting his arrival and wanted to show they could match his two-way talents.
“We try to keep the same game plan no matter what,” forward Josh Green said. “The coach has done a great job for the last week, and all the guys have bought in. “We’ve been doing this for a week now.”
Leonard was held to 15 points in 35 minutes on 7-of-17 shots, while Harden and George led the Clippers with 22 points apiece.
Norman Powell tossed in a three-pointer at the outset of the fourth quarter, and Zubac added a bucket as the Clippers forged ahead, 73-67, with 9:32 remaining in the game. That forced Kidd to call a timeout to re-group, and the Mavs came out of the timeout and went on an impressive 14-0 run, capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Washington and Dončić.
That proved to be one of the pivotal moments of the game.
Behind 18 points from Dončić, the Mavs muscled their way to a 45-41 lead at intermission. It was a half that saw the Mavs use some grit and grind and limit the Clippers to just 15-of-44 shooting for the field, including making only two three-pointers in 13 attempts.
Harden (12 points) and George (10 points) tried to keep the Clippers afloat in the first half, while Leonard had just four points in 16 minutes on 2-of-6 shots in the first half.
The Mavs started the game with some measure of physicality. Jones powered inside and grabbed an offensive rebound and slammed it home, giving the Mavs their first lead of this series.
Shortly thereafter, the Mavs caught a break when Zubac was charged with his second foul with 9:26 to go in the first quarter and was taken out of the game. From there, Jones recorded another dunk and Dončić drilled a pair of three-pointers to stake the Mavs to an 18-11 lead with 3:27 remaining in the first quarter.
In the meantime, Leonard played seven minutes in the first quarter and was scoreless while missing his two field goal attempts.
Looking very assertive, Dončić scored 12 points in the first quarter and the Mavs used that to take a 23-19 lead at the end of the quarter. It was a quarter that saw the Mavs get down and dirty and were diving on the floor for loose balls, and bringing their brand of physicality to the table.
The defensive-minded Mavs held the Clippers to just five field goals on 20 attempts in the first quarter – 20 percent – while Dallas converted 8-of-19 field goals.
Overall, the Mavs shot 42.1 percent from the field and converted 14 of their 33 three-pointers, while the Clippers shot 36.8 percent from the field and were just 8-of-30 from downtown.
X: @DwainPrice
