The Mavericks were able to pull away from the Clippers late and steal a win in L.A.
The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Los Angeles Clippers Tuesday night in Los Angeles, winning 96-93. The series will now move to Dallas with the teams tied at one game a piece. It wasn’t exactly a must-win game for the Mavericks, but being down 2-0 to such a talented team would be almost impossible to come back from.
The game was gritty from start to finish, with neither team able to push out to a big lead at any point. But eventually the Mavericks were able to string together some competent offense in the fourth quarter and pull out the win.
Luka Doncic led all scorers with 32 points. He also dished out nine assists. Kyrie Irving contributed 23 points. James Harden and Paul George led the Clippers with 22 points each.
Here are three numbers to know from the game:
12: The number of consecutive points by the Mavericks in the fourth quarter
With less than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Clippers had finally found some momentum and built a lead. They were up 73-69. Then the Mavericks went on a run that would eventually win them the game. Dallas scored 12 consecutive points, going up 81-73. The trio of Doncic, Irving, and P.J. Washington scored or assisted on all the points on that run, with the only exception being a Maxi Kleber assist to Doncic. Speaking of Washington…
18: Washington’s total points for the game
This was the game the Mavericks needed from Washington. Doncic and Irving are going to get their points, that’s a given. The Mavericks need one other player to put some pressure on the Clippers’ defense. Tonight, that was Washington. He scored 18 points, going 5-of-10 from the floor, and 3-of-4 from deep. Always active on defense, he also had a couple blocks and a steal.
26: The Clippers’ shooting percentage on three’s
The Clippers probably aren’t going to shoot 8-of-30 from deep again, but the Mavericks aren’t giving up wide open three’s and hoping for the best. They’re active on the perimeter and contesting consistently. 3-point shooting defense is a bit of crap shoot, but not giving up good looks to the opponent is a good way to affect it, at least. The Mavericks are doing that. They just have to make sure to clean up some other things (second chance points, advantage 13-8 Clippers; fast break points, advantage 17-10 Clippers) to make sure they don’t give L.A. a window to get in the game when their 3-pointers don’t fall.
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