The Clippers fell at home 110-104 to the Kyrie Irving-led Dallas Mavericks in a game they never led. Keep reading for a brief recap of the game.
RECAP
“Without Doncic and as new players get integrated, Dallas isn’t necessarily supposed to win this game. But that doesn’t mean the Clippers don’t need to show up. As they saw in Brooklyn on Monday, focus is required at all times.”
As I wrote in the preview to Wednesday’s game, focus would be required at all times. And it wasn’t. The Clippers returned home from a six-game Grammy and came out in quite an awful way. Likely due to fatigue (excusable), another slow start on both ends of the floor doomed them. Kyrie Irving made got it going quickly and so did all of Dallas’ 3-point shooters — namely former LA Clipper Reggie Bullock, who connected on five threes in the opening quarter as part of a 41-point first-quarter for the Mavericks.
The Clippers’ defense eventually tightened its screws in quarters No. 2 and 3 while the offense from Terance Mann (21 points) and Norman Powell (24 points) kept the Clippers within striking distance throughout. And as their deficit stood at three points heading into the final frame, defense and shot-making would be key in completing yet another comeback.
Instead, the Clippers reverted back to old ways. Much like what we’ve seen recently, neither Paul George nor Kawhi Leonard was able to put points on the board during the fourth when the Clippers needed to stay in the game (lots of open shots by role players were missed, too), Ty Lue opted to remove Ivica Zubac from the floor to go small, and as always against Dallas, double-teams on the ball and slow rotations out of them allowed the Mavericks to capitalize from deep and put the nail in the coffin. Final at Crypto — 110-104 Mavs.
NOTES
213:
Simply put, Paul George and especially Kawhi Leonard were not good in this one. It happens from time to time, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. George struggled to handle duties as both a scorer and the primary facilitator, which led him to just 20 points on 20 shot attempts with four turnovers to his four assists. Meanwhile, Leonard essentially showed up for one quarter of this game and finished with only 18 points on 12 total shots in the game. Neither cracked my list for the Top 5 performers of this game, and for the Clippers, that’ll always be a problem.
Trade Deadline:
In one way or another, we’ve likely watched a few guys play in a Clippers uniform for the final time. And what a sad way for it to end. The Clippers have been linked to a ton of players over the past week, and it’s likely multiple of them will be gone by tomorrow’s 12 pm deadline. Whatever the Clippers do, they’re going to have some ground to make up considering other teams in the West have gotten better already via trades, to put it lightly.