Against LA, the Mavs big men dominate on both ends, Kyrie Irving scores again in the second half, and Dallas defends home court.
Dallas – Dallas’ reaction to Los Angeles’ attempt to steal one at American Airlines Center on Friday night was personified by Daniel Gafford.
Stay away from here. No, not now.
In the fourth quarter of the Mavericks’ 101-90 victory against the Clippers in Game 3, Gafford showed the fortitude to stuff Paul George cold at the rim despite having decided to play at game time due to severe back pain. In front of a sold-out crowd of 20,402, the sequence demonstrated Dallas’ commitment to defending home court.
In addition, it gave LA a warning about the challenges it is currently facing a 2-1 deficit before Sunday’s Game 4 matchup in Dallas.
The playoffs saw guard Luka Doncic record his lowest scoring total to date in a tense game that saw PJ Washington and Russell Westbrook ejected. That was insignificant in light of Dallas’s “lob city” evening, which highlighted another outstanding performance from Kyrie Irving in the second half of the game.
Five things to remember from Game 3 are as follows:
The first is Lob City in Big D
During the time of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan, the Clippers were known as “Lob City.”
In Game 3, the Mavericks took it all.
The backboard continued to bob all night long as Dallas smashed the mic’d up rims. Throughout the first half, the Mavs dunk five times with successful alley-oops; if Derrick Jones Jr. hadn’t missed, that number could have been six.
Along with two assists from Doncic and two assists from Irving and Dante Exum, rookie Dereck Lively II ripped off four dunks. At 6:49 in the first quarter, Gafford started the lob party after Irving assisted him.
The Mavs scored eight lob dunks in total.
With its big men, Dallas caused havoc all night long. The Mavs led LA by 18 points in the paint in the first half thanks to 32 points from Lively, Gafford, Jones, and Washington.
Dallas outscored the Clippers 52–38 during the game in the paint.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd stated, “Our bigs were big.” “We didn’t really exist in Game 1 in my opinion. Nevertheless, I believed that we were present in the second part of Game 1. Our game has become Mavs basketball ever since that second half.
2. Halfway through KAI
Doncic’s strategy of attacking the Clippers in the first half and then giving Irving a chance to flourish in the second half is clearly visible in this series.
In Game 3, Irving followed exactly the same script, scoring two points on one of his five shots in the first half as Doncic erupted for a game-high 14 points leading into halftime. Irving scored eleven points in the last quarter on 4-for-8 shooting, accounting for 19 of his 21 points in the second half.
Irving has averaging 20 points per game through the first three games of this series while shooting 21 of 35 from the field and 9 of 15 from 3-point range. He has also racked up eight rebounds, five assists, and six steals in the second half.
Irving’s poor starts should therefore no longer be able to put the Clippers to sleep.
“It’s simply his soothing influence,” Kidd remarked. He never moves quickly. He is not going to panic. Everything seems in control to him. Out on the floor, the teammates have faith in him. That is evident in the latter half.
3. Doncic influential without large quantities
Doncic did not finish with 30 points or more in any of the previous two games of this series until Game 3. Yet with a game-high 22 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists, the 25-year-old was able to record his second double-double of the postseason.
According to Kidd, Luka must accept what they are offering. “Defense is a strong suit for the Clippers. Luka is a physical partner for them.
But in the second quarter, Doncic was the driving force behind Dallas’ 36–18 victory over LA. That made a 14-point halftime lead possible for the Mavs. With five rebounds, five assists, and twelve points in the quarter, the five-time All-Star performed admirably.
Doncic showed off his underappreciated defense skills by recording two steals as well.
The Clippers’ coach Tyronn Lue declared, “He’s going to take the challenge.” “You become a whole different team when your best player accepts the challenge. His defense skills are not well-known. But it means a lot to step up, accept that challenge, and want to play guys one-on-one. He is keeping an excellent eye on our people.
Despite Doncic shooting just 2 out of 13 from the field in the second half, Dallas managed to score 16 points by taking advantage of 10 Clippers mistakes during that time.
The Mavs took advantage of 19 LA turnovers to score 29 points overall.
4. James Harden attains a postseason achievement
After Game 3, Harden chose not to talk with the media; however, he surpassed Magic Johnson to take the 16th spot in all-time playoff points (3,708). In the second quarter, with 9:08 left, the 2018 Kia MVP equaled Johnson with a 24-foot stepback over Josh Green, giving LA a 32-25 advantage.
The issue was that Harden didn’t add another basket until the final 35.5 seconds of the third quarter. Eventually, the point guard made two free throws to surpass Johnson in all-time postseason scoring.
Despite playing a game-high 44 minutes, Harden scored 7 points on only 4 shots in the second half.
5. Kawhi Leonard won’t be able to recover from this game
After a lackluster (by his standards) effort in Game 2, you just knew a Leonard comeback performance was on the horizon. In that game, the 32-year-old showed promise on both ends, even as he worked off some rust from missing action since March 31 because of knee soreness.
Only in Game 3 did it become clear that the two-time MVP of the Finals is still not fully himself.
In just 25 minutes of action, Leonard scored 9 points on 4 of 7 shots, grabbed 9 rebounds, and committed 4 turnovers. As the forward continues to regain his strength, Lue acknowledged that the team is still being cautious with him.
For the first half, Leonard only played for ten minutes.
According to Lue, “He’s trying to find his way back.” “We are merely handling it.” His knees are inflamed. So [we’re] just being considerate, making sure we’re taking care of Kawhi and paying attention to his feelings. He’s still attempting to settle into a groove. We must ensure that we assist him in doing so.
The veteran recorded seven rebounds and four steals in 35 minutes in addition to his 15 points in Game 2. Leonard was marked as questionable for Game 3 by the Clippers. It seems expected that he will have the same classification in Game 4.
Leonard remarked, “The way it is now, I’ll see tomorrow.” Still, I’d like to play.