The Clippers fought hard, but couldn’t get any shots to fall while Luka Doncic ran wild on the other end. Continue reading below for the full game recap of the Clippers’ 105-89 loss to the Mavericks.

Summary

Rick Carlisle said before the game that his Dallas Mavericks team was “looking forward to the challenge” of facing the Clippers again after Monday night’s defeat — and he was right. The Mavs came out with a sense of urgency, with the star tandem of Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis setting the tone early. The Clippers matched the shot-making of the Mavs throughout the somewhat rugged first quarter before Lou Williams and Terance Mann pieced together a mini spurt to put the Clippers ahead 29-24 at the quarter’s end.

The second quarter began much like the first as the Clips and Mavs traded baskets back and forth throughout the quarter’s opening minutes. Tim Hardaway Jr. reeled off three straight baskets to keep Dallas in striking distance before eventually surpassing the cold-shooting Clippers. No matter how the Clips tried to attack the Dallas defense they just couldn’t string together enough scoring possessions. Meanwhile, Josh Richardson took over for Hardaway Jr. as the hot-handed Maverick. He splashed a few heavily contested jumpers as the shot clock dwindled while burning some great Clippers defensive possessions. The shot-making would send the Mavericks into the half with a five-point lead.

The Clips did not come out of the half ready to play, and the Dallas lead quickly ballooned to 13 before three minutes had even come off of the clock. Luka hunted Reggie Jackson by way of pick-and-rolls and found seven quick points in the process. With Reggie being picked on, Nic Batum replaced him to shore up the defense — which created an ultra-lengthy five-man lineup that featured the team’s best (healthy) defenders. The change sparked a 7-0 Clippers run before the Mavs could find any answers to the Clippers’ defense. But from there, the Dallas bigs got going from the perimeter to push the lead back to 14 points as the third quarter waned. In what would ultimately be the Clippers’ final punch, Kawhi and PG led an 8-0 run to end the quarter with George’s back-to-back threes trimming the Mavs’ lead to six.

An admirable effort was put forth during the fourth quarter, but after the six-point deficit reached double figures, there wasn’t much left in the tank for Clips. The jumpers continued to clank off the rim and Luka put the finishing touches on a 42-point performance. Some garbage-time minutes followed and the Clippers fell to the Mavericks 105-89.

Notes

3PT Shooting: The Clippers made just 9 of 32 three-pointers in the second go-around against the Mavs. Except for a noticeably quick NIc Batum transition three, and some other desperation attempts, the majority of the looks were clean. Morris Sr. shot just 1/9 from distance, Kawhi and Lou were 1/4, and Reggie 0/3. This is just one of those outlier games that happens to every team once in a while. I wouldn’t be too worried about the best three-point-shooting team having one poor night.

Defense: For as short as the offense came up, the defense was pretty good. Sure, Luka did Luka things (42 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists), but that’s what the elite players can do. And to be fair, there were quite a few stepback threes over outstretched arms that found the bottom of the net. You tip your hat to the man and live with those. The other Mavs were okay — no other player scored over 15 points, but they did make some timely shots and all played within the offense. The Clippers were otherwise pretty locked in defensively. Dallas only scored 105 points (some garbage-time points sprinkled in there) and had 18 turnovers.

Free throws: An unfriendly whistle is what the Clippers got again in Dallas, and for the second straight game they took just 11 free throws. Only four Clippers went to the line in this one. Kawhi was unusually poor from the stripe, shooting just 1/4, Reggie and Mann both split a pair of free throws, and Paul George made all three of his tries. Sidenote: does PG get the most disrespectful whistle of any superstar in the league? He attacks the rim constantly, but refs seem to hate the guy. Regardless, the Clippers are going to have to figure out a way to get to the line a few more times, which will be especially important on nights like this when they can’t buy a basket.

PG Finds His Touch: One of the few bright spots in this otherwise frustrating offensive showing was Paul George seeing some shots go in from the outside. Before this game, he had made only 11 of his 35 attempts from distance during the month of March. Regardless of what kind of a slump he is in, he should be around 10 three-point attempts every game — he’s that elite of a shooter. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s been very good post-all-star break in getting downhill and either getting shots at the rim or finding teammates for looks. But he must not forget to play to his strengths. Nevertheless, 5/8 from three was great to see.

That’s about it for this game recap of the Clippers’ loss to the Mavericks. Stay tuned for Lucas’ player grades and a new episode of TLTJTP.

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