‘Just Like We Drew It Up’: Doncic, Mavs Outlast Clippers Despite Blowing Another Big Lead
The Dallas Mavericks came into Tuesday night's game against the shorthanded Los Angeles Clippers looking for a second consecutive win. Dallas was working with two days of rest while Los Angeles was playing on a second night of a back-to-back.
Despite building a lead as high 25 points in the first half, the Mavs, as they have done often this season, found a way to let their opponent back in the game. After a second half that felt like a trip to the dentist's office, the Mavs ultimately pulled away from the Clippers with a 103-101 win at American Airlines Center. Dallas improved to 8-5 on the year, while the Clippers fell to 8-7.
"We're giving up a lot of big leads, just like we drew it up,” joked Mavs coach Jason Kidd.
“That third quarter – we just missed shots and we didn't defend. Give the Clippers credit. They came out in the second half and put a lot of pressure on us. I thought the group handled the situation with grace in the sense of things weren't going our way. But we didn't self-destruct. We just stayed together and found a way.”
Luka Doncic led the way for Dallas, as he finished with 35 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals. He shot 11-22 from the field and a perfect 11-11 from the free-throw line. Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring, has now scored 30+ points in 11 of the Mavs' first 13 games to start the season.
With the Mavs clinging to a 99-98 lead with less than 30 seconds remaining, Doncic saved a potential Mavs turnover by nailing a clutch 3-pointer from his favorite left wing to push the Mavs' lead to 102-98.
“I was a bit lucky,” said Doncic. “I just shot it and it was two seconds on the [shot clock]. It went in. Just a little bit lucky, but we’ll take it.”
No other Maverick needed a slump-busting game as badly as Reggie Bullock did coming in to Tuesday's game. After starting 0-3 from the field, Bullock ended up having a major impact by hitting multiple clutch 3s in the fourth quarter when the Mavs needed it the most. He finished with 13 points on 4-8 shooting from deep.
Dorian Finney-Smith, who has also struggled shooting the ball so far, also had a breakout game. He was the Mavs' second-leading scorer with 21 points on 7-13 from deep. Finney-Smith also tallied three steals on the night.
“It’s amazing. I’m so happy for them,” said Doncic of Bullock and Finney-Smith’s performances.
“A lot of people put a lot of pressure on Reggie [Bullock], talking about he can’t make a shot. The things he does on the court for us doesn’t show up on the statistics a lot, but today he showed that he’s a great player. A lot of times it doesn’t show in the statistics – the way he defends, and Doe-Doe [Dorian Finney-Smith] obviously too, but they are key players to us for sure.”
The Clippers were led by Paul George and Nic Batum, who scored 23 and 22 points respectively. Batum was perfect on the night, as he shot 7-7 from the field – all of those shot being 3s. George was held to just 13 shot attempts and committed 10 turnovers, which was a testament to Finney-Smith’s stellar defense.
Next up, the Mavs will host the Houston Rockets at AAC on Wednesday night. After playing a Clippers team that was on the second night of a back-to-back on Tuesday, the Mavs will be that team against the Rockets. We'll see if Doncic ends up getting a rest for Wednesday's game or not.
“Tomorrow we're going to need our bench,” said Kidd. “We can't just rely on C-Wood [Christian Wood] to carry the bench with the 15 points. But the nice thing is we got the a win at home and we've got another again tomorrow."
The Mavs improved to 7-1 at home on the season, and they’re 36-13 at home since Kidd was hired last year.
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