The Clippers Even Up Their Series With The Mavs By Winning One Of The Wildest Playoff Games You'll Ever See
Tim Warner. Getty Images.
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With the Mavericks winning the last two games to take control of their series against the Clippers, you could make the case that it was already an uphill battle for LAC. Then we learned that Kawhi Leonard would be missing the game due to knee issues, and things became even more challenging. It's hard enough to win on the road in the playoffs against a team that is running off momentum, and to do it without your best player certainly makes things a bit more difficult.
Which is why it makes perfect sense that the Clippers got off to a 39-16 start and were up by as much as 31 points in the 2nd quarter. In most cases, being up by 31 points is more than enough to win a playoff game unless your name is the 2019 Warriors. You might remember that time the Clippers came back down from 31 and beat GS a few years ago in their playoff matchup, but with Paul George having the best half of his playoff career (26 points), it looked like we were well on our way to a 2-2 split.
But here's the thing about NBA basketball in 2024. No lead is safe. Not when players can score 9 points in 1 minute, which is exactly what Kyrie Irving did. The Mavs found a way to get it to a respectable 17 points at the half, and once we came out for the second half, it was nothing but pure chaos from everyone involved.
All of a sudden, Kyrie and Luka couldn't miss
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At this point, the Clippers offense completely disappeared. That's sort of the only way it's possible for you to come back from 31, but credit the Mavs defense. They were physical, they played with force, and they go the Clippers to move away from what worked all game (PG13 P&R) and then used the momentum of the crowd to get back in it. That Kyrie 3PM was so predictable given how the gameflow was unfolding, and everything was shaping up for an all time 4th quarter.
Coming off what we watched with NYK/PHI, there's nothing like a playoff game where both sides continue to throw haymakers every possession. The crowd goes nuts with every home make only for the road team to come right back down and silence them with dagger bucket after dagger bucket, it's truly the pinnacle of the sport
At this moment it felt like the Maves were about to do it. They clawed back not just from 31, but another double digit deficit in the 4th quarter. During this final push it felt like maybe they were a team of destiny, and once the Luka step back is dropping that usually means it's curtains for you.
Unfortunately, James Harden of all people was ready to rise to the occasion and put the team on his back. Yes that's right. James Harden. Showing up in a BIG TIME playoff moment, on the road. This is not a drill, this actually happened
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How Kyrie finished that layup through all that traffic makes no sense whatsoever. Kyrie is probably one of 3 people on the planet who can not only make a shot like that, but also make it look routine. This is where that "team of destiny" feeling was at its highest until…
What an incredible shot by Paul George. That possession was going nowhere quick, and to have the presence of mind to generate just enough space to get off a clean look while also making sure you stay inbounds is big time stuff. From there, James Harden did the rest
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All in all, an incredible performance by the to Clippers stars to go on the road without Kawhi and find a way to tie this series up at 2-2
By the looks of things, even with Kawhi's health being an unknown it feels like we are destined for this to go the distance. I'm actually going to need Adam Silver to do his thing and make sure it happens. We need 7 games of this matchup based on how good the first 4 games were. There's real bad blood between these two teams, each side has stars who are must watch, and their games have been wildly entertaining. We as fans deserve at least 3 more of these things just to see how it shakes out.
Did you ever in your wildest dreams that in the year 2024 we would have a world where James Harden was showing up in huge playoff moments? Sixers fans are probably beside themselves that this guy was nowhere to be found in Game 6 or 7 last year, but that's just the James Harden Experience for you. People forget this is one of the greatest offensive players in NBA history. For some reason the Mavs continued to play deeeeep drop coverage and never bring their center up to contest, so it was rather easy for James to use a hesitation dribble and get into the deep paint where his floater has been burying defenses for over a decade.
Kawhi's knee issue is definitely a factor moving forward, but the good news is it feels like even without him in the lineup we're still guaranteed awesome games between these two teams, and as someone who doesn't really have a rooting interest in who wins, that's really all I'm looking for.
Another great game. Another great day of NBA playoff basketball. There's nothing like it.