A combined 56 points from Kawhi Leonard and Paul George led the way Monday night, helping the Los Angeles Clippers defeat the Dallas Mavericks, 118-110, in Game 1 on Monday night.
Kawhi was as advertised offensively in his first playoff game with the Clippers, leading the team in scoring (29), rebounds (12), and assists (6), along with 3 steals in 38 minutes of work. George, meanwhile, hit 10 of his 22 shots to contribute 27 points in 37 minutes.
The Clippers were able to overcome 42 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds from the great Luka Doncic, who became the first player in NBA history to score at least 40 points in his postseason debut. Doncic shot 13-for-21 from the field while doing plenty of damage from the charity stripe. The 19-year-old made one fewer free throw (14) than the entire Clippers team in this game.
Porzingis’ Questionable Ejection
The game was marred by controversy in the third quarter when Doncic’s running buddy, Kristaps Porzingis, was ejected after a couple of dubious technical foul calls. The officials said that Porzingis “escalated” a kerfuffle between Doncic and Marcus Morris, and he was tossed after picking up his second technical as a result.
Porzingis had scored 14 points in just 20 minutes of action, so his absence was obviously a plus for the Clippers’ prospects in this one. The Mavs put up an impressive performance overall, but they were largely undone by their 21 turnovers. The Clips turned the ball over just 11 times.
Turning the ball over that often is unusual for a Mavs team that averaged just 12.7 giveaways per game during the regular season. Doncic coughed it up 11 times in his first playoff game, as some jitters may have been a factor.
Morris Was A Catalyst
Marcus Morris looked good on both ends of the floor, which isn’t something we’ve said often at all since he came over from the Knicks. This was Morris’ best game as a Clipper, and he played a big role in helping the Clippers defeat the Mavericks in game 1. Morris finished with 19 points, 6 boards, and 4 steals in 32 minutes. Ivica Zubac gave LA a 10-10 double-double, but he played just 22 minutes and didn’t see the floor after leaving midway through the third. The game went small after that, with the Mavs giving Maxi Kleber most of the minutes at the 5 after Porzingis was tossed.
Montrezl Harrell chipped in with 6 points and 2 rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench in his first action of the bubble. Patrick Beverley, who was listed as questionable before the game, was limited to 20 minutes.
Early Game Of Runs
Things couldn’t have gotten off for a better start for the Clippers. They knocked down each of their first 4 shots while also forcing 4 Mavericks turnovers in the first 2 minutes of the game.
LAC jumped out to an 18-2 lead, but it all went downhill from there. Patrick Beverley was subbed out after 4 minutes, and the defense quickly cratered. The Mavs were able to claw their way back into the game against the sieve-like Lou Williams/Reggie Jackson defensive backcourt as LA’s offense stalled.
Dallas shot 7-for-11 from 3-point range in the first quarter. When they weren’t turning the ball over, they were scoring just about every time down the floor on pretty wide-open looks. You know it’s bad when Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is making shots against you.
After LA got off to that 18-2 start, the Mavs proceeded to go on a 48-18 run. Is that bad? Seems bad. Dallas started the second quarter on a 12-2 run of their own to take a 50-36 lead, prompting a Doc Rivers timeout.
The Clips were settling for jumpers without really running any semblance of an offense, while the Mavericks were playing with much more fire on both ends. Dallas had 10 free throw attempts by the 7:26 mark of the second quarter compared to just 4 for the Clips.
Stingy Defense Keyed Turnaround
The Clippers were able to turn the game around in the third quarter. The team stepped up the defensive intensity after the break, and they were impressively able to hold one of the most prolific offensive teams in NBA history to just 13 points in the frame.
The Clips didn’t exactly blow the doors off offensively with just 21 points of their own in the third, but it was enough to erase the confidence Dallas started to build up between the first and second periods. LAC held a 5-point lead after 3.
The Mavs’ reserves managed to close the gap with Doncic on the bench to begin the fourth, but the Clips’ All-Star duo was eventually able to stave off Dallas’ late charge.
Takeaways
The Clippers did well in terms of forcing turnovers in this game, but the bench is going to have to clean up its act if the team is able to make the deep playoff run we’ve all envisioned. The backcourt duo of Reggie Jackson and Lou Williams was predictably calamitous defensively, and the Mavs’ big early-game run coincided with those two playing together.
Kawhi and George did what they were brought here to do. I thought the Clips settled for too many jumpers in this game, and the free-throw disparity favored Dallas pretty heavily before the Clips closed the gap thanks to some desperate late-game hacking from the Mavericks.
All things considered, a win is a win. The Clippers got solid games from both superstars with nice contributions from Morris and Zubac. Beverley and Harrell are going to take time to get back into the swing of things, but this was the first time since the restart that Doc had all of his guys available. Here’s hoping Beverley ramping up his minutes will mean less Reggie Jackson moving forward.
Luka is going to pile up numbers, but keeping the supporting cast in check will be a key for LA. Dallas got decent shooting nights from Tim Hardaway Jr. and Seth Curry, and things will get more difficult in this regard with the 7’3″ Porzingis set to return with a full complement of minutes in the next game.
Anyway, wins are fun. More of those, please. The Clippers have a long road ahead of them, but it began the right way with a defeat of the Dallas Mavericks in game 1. Both teams will get a day off tomorrow before being back in action for Game 2 on Wednesday from the bubble.
For more coverage of this game, be sure to check out The Lob, The Jam, The Podcast for tonight’s postgame episode, as well as our series preview.
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