DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic once again struggled with his shot because of a sore right knee and Kyrie Irving spent a lot of energy on defense.
Through it all, the Mavericks’ co-stars tag-teamed for the lead in the second half, sending Dallas to their first postseason appearance together in the second round.
Doncic had 28 points and 13 assists, Irving scored 28 of his 30 points after halftime and the Mavericks held off the Los Angeles Clippers with a 114-101 victory on Friday night.
This time with Irving, Doncic did what the Slovenian superstar couldn’t do three years ago – beat the Clippers in Dallas in Game 6 of a first-round playoff series.
The fifth-seeded Mavericks defeated the Clippers for the first time in three first-round tries in the last five seasons and will open the Western Conference semifinals at top-seeded Oklahoma City on Tuesday night.
“We’re pushing each other to be better off the court, and then when we get on the court it’s like synchronicity,” Irving said. “It looks great.”
Paul George had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers, who won the first two times they played without Kawhi Leonard in the series, but he didn’t have enough scoring punch in the final two, sidelining him with right knee inflammation. Was done.
James Harden had 16 points and 13 assists, but he was only 5 of 16 from the field and missed all six of his 3-pointers as L.A. reached the first round for the second consecutive season despite a 10-point early-season trade. I was out. all Star.
“There are a lot of emotions and things going through my mind right now,” Harden said.
Irving, who was added at the trade deadline last year to make the kind of playoff run the Mavs hoped they had just begun, spent a lot of time guarding Harden in the first half, when he only had two points on six shots. Were.
The eight-time All-Star started the second half with a layup to break a 52-52 tie, then Doncic hit a 3-pointer after going 0-for-7 in the first half. After an LA turnover, Irving hit 3 points for an eight-point lead after Dallas squandered a 13-point lead in the second quarter.
The Mavs outscored the Clippers 35–20 in the third quarter – the same quarter that clinched the win in Game 5 in Los Angeles – and pushed the lead to 20 early in the fourth.
Irving gave Dallas its biggest lead with a flashy four-point play when he hit a slant 3-pointer past PJ Tucker and made a free throw for a 106–82 lead.
The Clippers responded with a 13-2 run to get within 13, but George, Harden and Ivica Zubac played at least 22 minutes in the first half to get L.A. back into the game, then never again in the final minutes. Didn’t threaten a big comeback.
“It affected us and you saw it in the third quarter and the fourth quarter,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “We ran out of gas.”
Doncic, who has battled knee pain as well as illness, was 9 of 26 from the field and just 1 of 10 from 3-point range and 9 of 11 on free throws. Irving was 10 of 13 from the field after halftime.
“Awful, man. I need some rest,” Doncic said before walking away from a TV interview — and on a three-day break.
Now Doncic will try to at least match his long playoff run from two years ago, when Dallas defeated Phoenix in Game 7 in the West Semis before losing to eventual champion Golden State in five games in the West Finals.
Norman Powell scored 20 points for the Clippers, and Zubac had 17 points and 11 rebounds.
PJ Washington scored 14 points for the Mavs with some big 3-pointers, going 4 of 8 from deep, and Daniel Gafford scored 13 points with several emphatic buckets.
“They’re very important when you look at the culture of our team,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said of the Mavs’ pair of trade-deadline acquisitions. “When they came here our defense changed. They are not going to complain. You don’t have to run any plays for them.”
Dallas’ Maxi Kleber did not return after spraining his right shoulder when he fell badly on a blocking foul against Rich Coffey on a drive in the first minute of the second quarter.
Kleber, whose 3-point shooting was a boost for Dallas in the series, returned to shoot free throws, and made one of two before going on the next dead ball.
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