If the regular season series against the Clippers is any indication, the Dallas Mavericks could be in trouble. The Mavericks, who are pretty much locked in the 7th-seed(3.0 games behind 6th-seeded Thunder), will probably battle the 2nd-seeded Clippers(1.5 games up on 3rd-seeded Denver) in the first round of the playoffs.
Last night, the Mavericks'(41-30) struggles against the Clippers(46-22) continued. Behind Kawhi Leonard’s 29 points, Paul George’s 24 points, and Ivica Zubac’s 21 points, including 10-10 from the field, Los Angeles would defeat Dallas 120-111 in Orlando. With the loss, Dallas is 0-3 against the Clippers this season.
On the surface, going 0-3 against the Clippers does not bode well for the Mavericks, but according to Luka Doncic, who scored 29 points last night, people should not count out Dallas.
“We always have chances,” Doncic said about the possibility of playing Clippers in playoffs. “You know we’re a great team. We always got chances, no matter what. I think some people count us out, but we’re not out. I think we have chances, so we’ll give it our best.”
Mavericks’ Kristaps Porzingis, who scored a game-high 30 points last night, looks forward to the challenge of playing the Clippers in the playoffs.
“That is obviously going to be a tough matchup,” Porzingis said. “They are one of the favorites to win it all. They are a big, physical team that knows how to play, has experience, and have multiple guys that have been there already.
“It is definitely going to be a tough matchup, but we are looking forward to the challenge and getting experience from that.”
The Clippers are a championship-caliber team. Los Angeles has arguably two top ten NBA players in Leonard and George. Additionally, they have two outstanding players coming off the bench in Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. Los Angeles is built to win now, and at this point, the Mavericks still have some growing to do. With Doncic and Porzingis, Dallas can give the Clippers a tough series, but they probably don’t have enough.
Leave a Reply