Dallas needs to get a win in Los Angeles eventually, why not now
The Dallas Mavericks trail the Los Angeles Clippers in the best of seven first round series. The two teams match up again on Tuesday night, the late game on TNT, starting at 9:00. Everyone drink your coffee, this is going to be a late game! Let’s get to the important stuff:
- WHO: Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Clippers
- WHAT: Playoffs? Are you kidding me?!
- WHERE: crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles California
- WHEN: 9:00 p.m. CST
- HOW: TNT and Bally Sports Southwest
As far as the injury report goes, Kawhi is going to test his knee and see how it feels pregame. Expect him to play.
After missing nine straight games with right knee inflammation, Kawhi Leonard is on the cusp of his debut in these Western Conference playoffs. https://t.co/Np8BaqRDJv
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 23, 2024
Dallas has no one listed on the injury report.
The final score doesn’t tell the story of Game 1. The Los Angeles Clippers absolutely thumped the Dallas Mavericks. They led by 26 points at halftime and extended their lead to 29 early in the third quarter. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving led a two-man comeback attempt in the second half for Dallas, but it was too little too late.
Heading into Game 2, the Mavericks must clean up their forced and unforced mistakes, and anyone not named Doncic or Irving needs to score the ball. Dallas’ biggest problem in Game 1 was that role players missed shots early and often. They shot 10-36 in the game — 27.7 percent. Another Morbs performance like this isn’t to cut it against the Clippers, even with Kawhi Leonard’s availability questionable.
“We just got to play like we used to play now,” Doncic said after the game. “We played the last 20 games of the season, you know, passing the ball, cutting, ball moving. I think we did a great job last 20 games. So we just got to play like that.”
Doncic puts a lot of the blame for the loss on his shoulders. He said he would be more aggressive from the opening tip in Game 2, looking to create for himself and find open teammates. It would behoove those teammates to at least shoot league average when he finds them with a pass.
Everything that could go wrong seemingly did in Game 1. It would be difficult for the team to replicate that performance in Game 2. They’re too talented. Still, they have a lot of improvements to make if they want to even the series before coming home to Dallas for Game 3.