The Dallas Mavericks did not get the start they wanted on the road Game 1 of their first-round series against the Clippers. Los Angeles, who led from start to finish, defeated the Mavericks 109-97 on Sunday.
Los Angeles leads the series 1-0. Game 2 is Tuesday night back at Crypto.com Arena.
The Clippers, who were without Kawhi Leonard(knee), held the Mavericks to eight points in the second quarter and led by as many as 27 points in the first half; Los Angeles led 56-30 at the break, and Dallas was fighting uphill the rest of the way.
“Yeah, I thought we did dig ourselves a hole, positives that we kept fighting there,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. ‘We understand that it wasn’t our best effort, you know, this afternoon, but just knowing that we know where we have to fix some of the problems.”
Dallas had a difficult time with Clippers center Ivica Zubac, who had a double-double at halftime with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Zubac finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds, and James Harden, who scored 20 of his team-high 28 points in the first half. Also, Paul George added 22 points.
Luka Doncic, who had a game-high 33 points to go along with 13 rebounds and six assists, says Dallas has to do a better job against Zubac in Game 2.
“He was a big factor for them, you know, rebounding, scoring, too,” Doncic said. “So we got to be more physical with him and do a better job with him.”
The Mavericks outscored the Clippers 67-53 in the second half, and Doncic believes the way Dallas played in the second half is the way the team has to play the whole game.
“Second half is the way we should play the whole game,” he said. “So we got to learn from that.”
Kyrie Irving, who scored 20 of his 31 points in the third quarter, said the team’s mindset was not where it needed to be, which caused the poor start.
“I just think that our mind was all over the place,” he said. “It’s our first playoff game together, got to settle in, and once we did that in the second half, I felt like we put some stops together. We got some great offensive possessions and our confidence in it started to get a little higher, and you can see that we were starting to look like the Dallas Mavericks we know ourselves to be.”
This will be a long series, but Dallas had an opportunity to win Game 1 with Leonard in street clothes; however, they got off to a poor start and never recovered. The Mavericks were better in the second half, which they hope can help them in Game 2.
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