The Mavs Evened Up Their Series With The Clippers After A Game 2 Win
The first round series between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks is all squared at one game each. After the Clippers picked up an emphatic win in Game 1 in which they absolutely dominated in the first half, the Mavs were able to bounce back on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. Thanks to a good performance by the Dallas defense, the team was able to pick up a 96-93 win to even the series at 1-1.
The game was tight for the first three quarters, but in the fourth, it looked like Dallas was going to pull away. After an Ivica Zubac basket gave the Clippers a 6-point lead — their largest of the night — the Mavs came to life on both ends of the floor, ripping off a 17-3 run to go up by eight. And even when Los Angeles started to chip away at that, Luka Doncic hit one of the best shots of his career, a stepback jumper over James Harden that put Dallas up by nine with 86 seconds remaining.
While the Clippers attempted to play the score and foul game from this point on, Dallas was able to keep them at arm’s length from the free throw line. And by the time Paul George’s three at the very end of the game went in with 0.1 seconds left to make it a 3-point game, things were already decided.
As is usually the case when the Mavericks win a basketball game, the team got some major contributions from both Doncic and Kyrie Irving. The former looked like an MVP, as he had 32 points on 11-for-26 shooting with nine assists and six rebounds. The latter, meanwhile, did what he does, scoring 23 points on 8-for-18 shooting with six rebounds, three assists, and three steals. P.J. Washington made a positive contribution as well, going for 18 points and six boards.
The Clippers got Kawhi Leonard back from a stint on the sideline due to knee inflammation, but unfortunately, he looked like someone who hadn’t played since the end of March. While Leonard had 17 points, seven rebounds, and four steals, he clearly had some rust that he still needs to knock off if Los Angeles is going to advance to the second round. As for the other two stars in Los Angeles, Harden had 22 points with eight assists and six rebounds, while George had 22 points. As a team, the Clippers only shot 32-for-87 (36.8 percent) from the field and 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) from three.
The series will now head to Dallas, where the Mavs will hope to take care of business and move one win away from advancing to the conference semifinals. Game 3 will take place on Friday night at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN.