By Josh Robbins, Joe Vardon, Tim Cato and Law Murray
The Dallas Mavericks defeated the LA Clippers 114-101 on Friday night to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.
Luka Dončić led Dallas in the first half with his elite playmaking — finishing with 13 assists — while co-star Kyrie Irving ignited American Airlines Arena with his dazzling scoring in the second half, finishing with a game-high 30 points and five 3-pointers.
No Clippers starter scored more than 18 points, and James Harden and Paul George combined to shoot 11 of 34 from the field and 2 of 16 from 3 in the elimination game.
Mavericks 114, Clippers 101
Series: 4-2, Mavericks advance
Dallas rides elite defense into next round
The Mavericks are heading to the conference semifinals for the second time in three seasons. The team has reached this point with an elite defense, one that the team has steadily been building its roster to create and to provide the stinginess needed to accentuate its two stars. In Friday’s Game 6, Dallas closed it out with much of that defense showing even as the team’s franchise player, Dončić, struggled with his shot.
Dončić finished with 28 points on just 9-of-26 shooting and a single made shot out of the 10 he attempted behind the 3-point line. But that’s why Dallas has two stars, and Irving scored 30 to help turn Dallas’ series-clinching win into one that felt comfortably in hand for the entire second half.
There are three questions for Dallas’ upcoming series against the Oklahoma City Thunder that begins on Tuesday. First, Dallas has more size ever since acquiring Daniel Gafford, who made his Mavericks debut off the bench against the Thunder in February to the tune of 19 points and nine rebounds. Rookie center Dereck Lively II didn’t play in that game, but both now make up an enormous two-headed center rotation, the type of physical size that has been the Thunder’s main weakness all season. Can Dallas earn an advantage with second chance points and offensive rebounds?
Second, Oklahoma City forced the league’s most turnovers in the regular season while Dallas’ offense had the league’s fourth-lowest rate. Who wins that battle?
And third, Dončić struggled with his shot all series and wasn’t quite the MVP-level player even as he made up for it with outstanding defensive effort. But surely, at some point, he’ll hit some shots against the Thunder, right? — Tim Cato, Mavericks beat writer
Lineup changes predicted Clippers disaster
Both of the Clippers’ wins in this series came with Amir Coffey starting in place of Kawhi Leonard. With Leonard unable to play well or at all due to right knee inflammation, the starting spot at forward opposite All-Star George was the wild card in the starting five.
Game 5 was a turning point of sorts. Coffey struggled in a start, scoring only 3 points on 1 of 6 field goals. Clippers coach Tyronn Lue pulled him early in the third quarter. Later in the third quarter, he introduced P.J. Tucker to the series after four DNP-CDs.
Tucker was arguably the least effective player with any expectations this season. The Clippers were outscored by 1.9 points per game with Tucker on the floor. The only players with a worse plus-minus for the Clippers this season were KJ Martin (two games played), Kobe Brown (rookie), Xavier Moon (two-way contract), and Brandon Boston Jr. (seldom-used). The Clippers were 11-17 when Tucker played this season.
But Lue changed up the starting lineup prior to Game 6. He did not reveal who pregame, but instead of going with Norman Powell to help the offense or Russell Westbrook to help the defense and perhaps get George and Harden to score first, Lue chose Tucker.
It was an immediate and predictable disaster. The lack of collective athleticism was obvious right away, as the Clippers allowed offensive rebound after offensive rebound and got killed in the possession battle.
By time Tucker subbed out for the first time, the Clippers were down 20-10 with 4:45 left…
This article was originally published by a theathletic.com . Read the Original article here. .