The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers went at it for the second time this season Monday. One could easily assume Dallas entered the game with extreme confidence. It was the second night of a back-to-back for the Clippers, and earlier this season, Mark Cuban’s team blew them out by 51 points on their own home floor. This margin is tied for the fourth largest of any road team in NBA history. Despite missing starting guard Patrick Beverly due to injury, the Clippers were looking for revenge.
The team wasted no time getting on the board, with Marcus Morris knocking down a straightaway 17-footer on the first possession of the game. Dallas showed some life early on, but the Clippers left little room for error in the first quarter. They would take a 29-15 lead with a couple minutes to play in the quarter, but a small Dallas run cut the deficit to just 8 at the quarter break.
Going blow for blow
The second quarter began with Dallas’s Luka Dončić knocking down 2 straight threes. This came as part of run that helped his team take a 44-43 lead. Both teams went back and forth at this point, delivering blows that led to 6 lead changes in the quarter. Josh Richardson showed flashes of relentlessness during the stretch, scoring 6 straight points of his own for Dallas. However, the Clippers held on to take a 5-point lead into the half.
Coach Ty Lu’s squad stayed in control throughout the entire third quarter. A balanced effort made their attack more versatile, relying on just about everyone on the floor to put the ball in the basket. A triple from Kawhi Leonard put the Clippers up double digits. However, Tim Hardaway, Jr., hit a pair of shots from downtown to keep Dallas within reach heading into the fourth.
Veteran guard and 3-time Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams provided a spark for the Clippers to start the final period. Williams knocked down a three before dishing to big man Ivica Zubac for an easy bucket at the rim. Though Leonard had a fairly quiet night, he made his presence felt with a vicious throwdown over Dallas’s Kristaps Porzingis.
A puncher’s chance
Dallas would not go down without a fight. Scratching and clawing at the Clippers’ lead, they found themselves down only 4 with just over 2 minutes remaining. However, they failed to score in the final minutes of the game. Leonard sealed the envelope with a beast-like offensive rebound and put-back, plus the foul. A few possessions later, his running mate Paul George put the stamp on it with a 3-point dagger.
In a game that saw the Clippers (26-15) come out on top in fast break points, second chance points, and points in the paint, they beat the Mavericks (20-18) by a score of 109-99.
Known to rest on the tail end of back-to-backs in seasons past, Leonard played a season-high 40 minutes. He finished the game with 22 points, 7 assists, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals to lead the Clippers. George contributed 15 points and 7 boards on 5 of 18 attempts, and Zubac added 15 points with 11 boards. Four other players scored in double figures for the Clippers.
“Physically, I was tired,” Leonard said when asked about his minutes. “But mentally, I wanted to win the game. My heart was in the game. You’re going to have these moments down the road where you feel like your juice is gone, but you just got to keep fighting.”
Despite an inefficient shooting effort for Dončić, he seemed to do it all for Dallas. The Slovenian superstar scored 25 points while adding 16 assists and 10 rebounds. Porzingis and Hardaway, Jr., made up the other parts of a 3-headed snake, scoring 22 and 21 points, respectively.
“This is on me,” Dončić said about his team’s loss. “I took some terrible shots, I didn’t score, and I say that’s on me.”
The two teams will face off in Dallas once again Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. PST.
