A much better start led to a much better result as Dallas takes a firmer grasp on the series.
The Dallas Mavericks finally put together a complete game on both ends of the court in their opening-round playoff series, blowing the doors off the Los Angeles Clippers, 123-93, in the pivotal Game 5 at Crypto.com Arena. The 30-point margin makes it the worst loss in Clippers playoff history, so that’s a nice little feather in the Mavericks’ hats, too.
Dallas held the Clippers to just 37.9% shooting from the field in the win that gives the Mavs a commanding 3-2 series lead and an opportunity to close out the series on their home floor in Friday’s Game 6. According to the TNT broadcast, the winner of Game 5 in seven-game series that are tied at 2-2 go on to win the series 81.8% of the time.
Luka Dončić had the statement game he has been searching for all series long, despite some continued struggles from 3-point land. he led all scorers with 35 points, pulled down seven rebounds and found his teammates for 10 assists in the biggest win of the year. Perhaps the best part about his brilliant performance was when he came out of the game about halfway through the fourth quarter, staring at a 30-point Maverick lead as he pulled on his sweatshirt and began to nurse that sprained right knee.
Five other Mavericks scored in double-figures in a balanced attack anchored by another stout showing on the defensive end. Here are eight statistics that tell the tale as the Mavericks move into the clear position of advantage in this series.
1-of-10: Dallas’ start from 3-point range
The Mavs’ start wasn’t anywhere near as disastrous as Game 1 or Game 4, so that was good. The lead changed hands 11 times in the first quarter alone, so it was much more competitive, and Dallas came away with a 25-24 lead after one quarter.
But the 3-pointer still proved elusive to start on Wednesday. Dončić and Irving both missed their first three attempts from deep, and Dallas started the game 1-of-10 from 3-point land. At the end of the first quarter, the Mavericks had made just 21 of their last 78 3-point attempts (26.9%) in the last nine quarters in this series.
Two of the unlikeliest suspects hit the Mavs’ first three 3-pointers of the game, all of which came from the right corner. Derrick Jones Jr. hit one on Kyrie Irving’s drive-and-dish with just under five minutes left in the first, and Maxi Kleber hit two early in the second quarter in a similar spot after the Clipper defense got sucked into drives from Dončić and P.J. Washington.
4: Second-quarter Maxi Kleber 3-pointers
Which brings us to a much more pleasantly surprising statistic. After the 1-for-10 start from deep in the first quarter, Kleber gave the Mavs a shot in the arm early in the second quarter as he came off the bench to hit three 3-balls in a row.
Kleber hit his first two from the right corner, then canned another from the left corner on a kick-out from Dereck Lively II with 7:21 left in the first half. It gave the Mavericks their biggest lead of the game, up 41-33 at the time.
He missed his next one badly, off the side of the backboard, with just over three minutes left before halftime, but hit his fourth a minute later, assisted by Dončić once again. It put the Mavs up 51-44 and kept Dallas afloat while the rest of the team shot just 1-for-15 from 3-point territory in the first half on Wednesday.
Kleber scored 15 points in the Game 5 win on 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. He improved to 40.3% from behind the arc in the playoffs for his career.
13-4: The Mavs’ scoring spurt to end the first half
So the Mavericks solved one problem in the first quarter by getting off to a better start. They bookended that increased zest to start the game with a nice little 13-4 run in the last 4:28 of the second quarter that pushed the Dallas lead to 10 points at the break. It wasn’t a huge run, but in a game that had for much of the first half been very back-and-forth, this spurt gave the Mavs a little bit of breathing room.
Dončić hit a turnaround jumper with 3:40 left in the second to put the Mavs up 46-42 before Kleber’s fourth 3-ball of the quarter extended the lead to 51-44. Then Daniel Gafford tomahawked home a devastating alley-oop jam from Irving with 1:14 left in the half to give the Mavericks a 54-44 lead.
DANIEL GAFFORD CAN FLY pic.twitter.com/b0S8UlPeDo
— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) May 2, 2024
Closing out the half well is always key. Quick little spurts like this one can change the entire complexion of the game, and this one definitely did. The closing run in the first half gave the Mavs their first bit of separation on the scoreboard — if they could pounce in the third, they could put a stranglehold on the game and on the series.
14-0: The Mavs’ follow-up third-quarter run
And that’s just what the Mavericks did. Dallas was hanging onto a nine-point lead early in the third when Dončić and Irving erupted, scoring or assisting on all 14 of the game’s next points. Just four minutes later, the lead was 23, and the Clippers were cooked.
Leading 59-50 with 8:48 left in the third, Dallas went on a 14-0 run sparked by a nifty 3-point play from Irving, who scored over Norman Powell on a drive through the lane. Then Dončić caught fire to score nine in a row on his own as the Mavericks lead ballooned to 73-50 with 4:44 left in the third.
The Mavs didn’t let up and built that lead to more than 30 in the fourth quarter.
16: Consecutive missed Clipper 3-point attempts
From a span starting with 3:14 left in the first quarter, stretching late into the third, the Clippers were absolutely futile from 3-point range. LA missed 16 in a row over the next 25-plus minutes of game time.
The Mavs were making very conscious decisions on which open 3-pointers to give the Clippers and contesting everything else. Los Angeles shot 9-of-35 (25.7%) from deep in the loss. Paul George and James Harden combined to shoot 3-of-13 from 3-point range after lighting the Mavericks up for 11-of-15 3-point shooting in Game 4.
8: Dallas turnovers
The Mavs turned the ball over just twice in the first half, one of which came on a shot clock violation. The ball security was immaculate, and that’s another reason the Mavs were able to weather the storm and stay in control of the early part of the game despite poor shooting.
Dončić and Irving didn’t shoot it well to start the game but piled up 11 assists to zero turnovers between them in the first half. Dallas won the turnover battle 13-8 in Game 5.
52: Dallas bench points
For the first time in the series, the Dallas bench outscored the LA bench in Game 5. The Mavs’ bench outscored the Clippers’ bench 52-42 in Wednesday’s win. Kleber’s 15 points came out of nowhere, Lively had 12 and seven off the bench and Jaden Hardy lit up garbage time for 14 points late as well.
The best bench performance of the series came in response to a terrible outing in Game 4, when the Clippers bench outscored Dallas 22-13.
2: Luka Dončić 3-pointers
Even though the Mavs were already up by 22 at the time, Dončić’s first 3-pointer with 2:25 left in the third quarter was somewhat notable, as he continued to find more and more offensive rhythm as the game wore on. Dončić had missed his first six on Wednesday but hadn’t been held without a 3-ball all season long.
He made sure to keep that streak intact with a mammoth rainbow of a heave over Powell’s outstretched arm that put the Mavs up 83-58 late in the third. Though he’s been woefully inefficient from deep against the Clippers, on Wednesday he turned into an assassin in the midrange when the 3-ball wasn’t falling instead of getting frustrated by the situation. Dončić exerted his will for a game-high 14 points in the third quarter and shot 12-of-18 inside the 3-point arc in the win.
Irving got off the schneid from 3-point land not soon afterward, early in the fourth quarter. Dončić found him open on the right wing for the 3-pointer that gave the Mavs a 92-71 lead with 10:30 left to play. Dončić hit his second with 7:55 left to play to end the day 2-of-8 from 3-point territory.
It seems as though Game 5 may have awakened something in the Mavericks, who will get their first shot at closing out the series in Friday’s Game 6 at American Airlines Center.
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