Winning playoff basketball games is hard to do. Just ask a guy like Tracy McGrady who never made it out of the first round during his Hall of Fame-worthy career until he became an end-of-bench player for the Spurs in his final season.
Damian Lillard’s teams have made first-round exits in four of its past five playoff appearances. It even took Chris Paul until his 10th playoff appearance to finally advance to a conference final.
Luka Doncic, and the Mavericks in general, know that feeling all too well.
Dallas hadn’t won a playoff series since 2011 and Luka never had until the Mavs knocked off the Utah Jazz in six games last round. But one thing to take away from the series against Utah was how dispersed Dallas’ scoring was across the roster. Whether it was Jalen Brunson scoring 41 points and Maxi Kleber’s 25 (with Luka injured), or the seven Mavs reaching double figures in Game 3, winning came by way of scattered production — the common denominator in most Mavericks playoff wins over the past three years.
That didn’t happen in Dallas’ Game 1 loss to the Suns, but it needs to if the Mavs (+6.5 at Tipico in Game 2) are going to take the series.
GAME 2.
⌚️ 9PM CT
📺 @NBAonTNT
📻 @theeagledallas & 99.1 FM pic.twitter.com/lGaV0TuaW0— x – Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) May 4, 2022
Dallas can’t afford to have nights in which Jalen Brunson, Spencer Dinwiddie and Reggie Bullock combine to score just 28 points on 11 of 31 shooting. Even if Doncic is going to supply 45 of the team’s 114 total points.
Opposing teams have been and will always be fine with that process. Looking back at the Mavericks’ wins during the previous series’ against the Jazz and Clippers, it usually took a Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber or Jalen Brunson dominant scoring outing alongside Luka to really push the Mavs over the top. Or even multiple others scoring 15-20 points as Luka does video game stuff.
So, how does that happen?
Some may interpret it as Luka needing to get off the ball more often and let other versatile playmakers like Brunson and Dinwiddie control a few more possessions per game. Others may see it as guys surrounding Luka simply needing to knock down shots and taking advantage of their opportunities when presented.
Both ways of thinking can be true. But however you slice it, it’s going to have to come from a committee if Dallas wants to pull off a series upset.
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