Three Takeaways from the LA Clippers' Game 2 Loss to the Dallas Mavericks
The LA Clippers are now down 0-2 in their first-round playoff series. They’ll never admit it, but they undoubtedly regret essentially choosing Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks as their opponent.
By sitting their core players in the final two games of the regular season, LA maneuvered the standings in such a way that they would avoid the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers until the conference finals (assuming the Lakers would win their play-in game, which they did). But by doing so, they aligned themselves with the Mavericks rather than the Portland Trail Blazers, whom the Clippers swept in the regular season.
The Clippers seemed content with dealing with the Mavericks, despite going 1-2 in the regular season against them. The team could justifiably point to their 2020 first-round series against Dallas, in which the Clippers won 4-2, as evidence that they shouldn’t be worried. Even still, Doncic gave them plenty of trouble in that series, and he’s somehow elevated his game to an even higher level since then.
Flash forward to Tuesday night, and the Clippers are reaping what they sowed. Doncic was spectacular yet again, going for 39 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. The questions that he presented in Game 1 were once again unanswerable in game 2; out of screen-and-roll, if the Clippers switched a big onto him, he would either blow by him or hit a jumper over him. If they elected to blitz and send two defenders to the ball, Doncic had no problem finding an open teammate, and this breakdown would eventually lead to dunks or open 3s.
For all the hubbub about who should be guarding Doncic (many called for Kawhi Leonard or Paul George to accept the challenge), it ultimately didn’t matter—the screen is the killer. It forces whichever player on the floor for the Clippers that they want least involved (namely Ivica Zubac) into the action, and it ultimately leads to chaos that Doncic controls. Doncic in a pick-and-roll with four shooters around him has become an overwhelmingly dominant offensive engine, and this dominance led the Mavericks to a 127-121 victory.
“I give the credit to Luka,man,” Paul George said postgame. “He's good, he's special. He knows how to see the floor and he's making them go.”
Doncic’s prolificness does not entirely excuse the Clippers’ lapses. They could’ve still made an effort to recover back to shooters once Doncic passed out, but they were a bit sluggish. They could’ve also stopped any off-ball movement, such as backdoor cuts, but they gave up a few. These mistakes turned out to be crucial, considering the game still was well within the Clippers’ grasp at halftime.
LA led 73-71 through two quarters, but Dallas was able to pull away in the third. They outscored LA 30-19, forced five turnovers, and held Leonard (who already had 30 points at halftime) and George to just six combined points in that frame. The Clippers would go on to make it interesting down the stretch, cutting the lead to just four points with 1:24 to go in the game, but Tim Hardaway Jr. capped off another stellar shooting performance by hitting a dagger 3 to put the Mavericks up seven with just over a minute remaining.
Besides gifting the Clippers 11 misses in 24 tries at the free throw line for the game, Dallas was once again about as offensively potent as they could hope to be. Their 3-point shooting, which seemed unreasonably efficient in game 1 (17-36 from downtown, 47.2%) turned out to be even more efficient in game 2 (18-34, 52.9%). Hardaway has been the main supplier of these 3s, knocking down six of his eight attempts in game 2 after going 5-9 in game 1. He’s been a human flamethrower, knocking down deep shots primarily off of catch-and-shoots. Hardaway is a solid 39% shooter from 3 during the regular season, but 64.7% is a true outlier for any NBA player. Contrast that with Marcus Morris Sr.’s cold streak (the second-most efficient 3-point shooter in the NBA this season, Morris has shot just 2-11 from deep through two games), and you get two shooting anomalies that just so happen to coincide. These anomalies are not the only reasons for the Mavericks’ two victories, but they are no-doubt contributing factors.
The level of concern
The question of whether Dallas’ shooting is sustainable is now irrelevant—the shots have been made, and the Clippers are down 0-2 in the series as a result. LA will be asked to do what only four teams in the past 45 years have done: Come back to win a series after losing the first two games in their home arena. They will have to win four out of five games, and three of those five will be in Dallas at American Airlines Center, where the capacity for fans in the arena is higher than that of Staples Center.
Despite this seemingly insurmountable task, the Clippers claim there is no need to panic on their end.
“I mean, there is none,” George said when asked what his level of concern is. “ It's a competition.We’ve got to rise to the occasion. The fact of the matter is if we don't, we're done for. But it's no level of concern. Wejust got to play our game. We got to play through this.”
“I'm not concerned,” Lue added. “You’ve got to win four games. When you come in on the opposing team's floor and you play, there's no pressure on you to make shots, because you just try to come in and steal a game or steal two games. But now they’ve got to go home and try to keep up the same shooting. It's easy to come out on the road and do that when there's no pressure on you, so we'll see in Game 3.”
It’s an admirable sentiment, and obviously these two are professionals and competitors. They’ll never admit how concerned they truly are, but to say there is no concern at all feels a bit disingenuous. It’s only natural to be worried in this situation, and LA needs to harvest that worry and use it as fuel to fight their way back.
It’s a tough ask, but not impossible. If shooting regresses to the mean for both teams, and the Clippers come up with some sort of out-of-the-box tactic to slow down Doncic (Paul George says “there’s things we could do” to deal with his passing out of blitzes), LA is absolutely talented enough to keep this series alive. But there is no longer any room for error. The Clippers are on the brink of collapse, and a first-round exit could have heavy implications for the offseason.
Leonard gave it his all
Leonard was sensational in game 2, particularly in the first half. He scored 30 points through two quarters, which is the most he’s scored in either half of a postseason game. He finished the game with 41 points on 14-21 shooting, becoming the third Clipper in franchise history to score at least 40 points in a postseason game. He was scoring from all areas of the floor, hitting four of his seven 3-point attempts and sprinkling in his usual midrange mastery. Maxi Kleber gave Leonard his all as a post defender, but the Claw’s high release and strength proved too much for him to handle. Leonard earned himself 10 trips to the foul line, hitting nine of his attempts.
It’s a shame that his Herculean effort came in a loss. Leonard extended quite a bit of energy on both ends, guarding Doncic on one end and working as the primary offensive engine on the other. It’s a tough ask, but the Clippers are going to need four more performances close to this level if they hope to reclaim this series.
Lue gives Mann a try
Terance Mann saw real playing time for the first time this series, entering the game at the 3:20 mark of the third quarter. He scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in 15 minutes, giving LA his usual birst of hustle plays (three crucial offensive rebounds) and transition offense. But more importantly, he gave the Clippers a taller, more stout option to play over their smaller point guards for stretches. Doncic has abused Patrick Beverley and Reggie Jackson so far in this series, posting them up from essentially the 3-point line and shoving them aside like children on his way to the basket. Mann is by no means a stopper, but he won’t be hunted down like LA’s point guards have been. Even if he’s not given the assignment of guarding Doncic, he’ll be able to hold his own if he’s brought into the action in pick-and-roll.
When asked if Mann will continue to see minutes in this series, Lue was straight forward:
“Yes sir,” he said postgame. “I think he gives us a guy who can switch on the floor...especially with our second unit...a guy who can rebound, attack, get to the basket, make plays. I was very impressed by how he played tonight.”
LA will hope to revive their life-supported season on Friday, entering American Airlines Center in Dallas on Friday at 6:30 on ESPN.
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