How the Dallas Mavericks won Game 1 is a wonderful sign for the team, but if they are going to win this series Kristaps Porzingis cannot post another lame game.
And the Mavs can’t expect to win another game if Luka Doncic, who finished with a triple double, scores one fourth-quarter point.
These things can happen once and the Mavs can win, but only once.
Instead of Doncic carrying the team in the fourth quarter, it was Tim Hardaway Jr., Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber and Jalen Brunson who won the game.
Thanks to those “other guys,” and 3-point shooting that never chilled, the Dallas Mavericks defeated the L.A. Clippers on Saturday in Los Angeles, 113-103, in their first NBA playoff game this postseason.
This is the first time the Mavs won a Game 1 of a playoff series since their lone NBA title winning season of 2011. That season, they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
Since then, they were 0-6 in Game 1s.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles at ... 9:30 p.m. central time. Adjust your coffee and caffeine intake accordingly for Tuesday, and especially Wednesday.
The Mavs are good enough to defeat the Clippers both times in L.A., and win this series, but ...
They can’t expect to shoot nearly 50 percent from 3-point range consistently. On Saturday, the Mavs made 17-of-36 from 3.
The Mavs are a good 3-point shooting team, but they are not going to repeat 17-of-36 every night.
Luka, Hardaway Jr. and Finney-Smith were a combined 14-of-25 on their long-distance attempts.
Trailing by one point with a little more than four minutes remaining in the game, Hardaway Jr. drilled a pretty pull-up 3-pointer for a two-point lead.
After the Clippers’ Paul George tied the game at 100 with 3:05 remaining, Finney-Smith hit a 3-pointer for a lead the Mavs would not surrender.
As good as Doncic was in the first three quarters, he could not find his shot in the fourth.
Call it fatigue, plus the fact that the Clippers sent every player they could find at him every time he touched the ball.
The Clippers begged other players to beat them, and they did.
I asked him via Zoom after the game if his fourth quarter production was simply a result of fatigue from all of it.
“They were double teaming me on almost every possession. My legs were sore; how to say, ‘sore?’” he asked.
That’s the right word, but the 22-year-old doesn’t know what sore is. Wait ‘til you’re 40.
“But we won the game,” he said. “That’s all that matters, if I have zero points, or 15 points, in the fourth quarter.”
He finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in 41 minutes. He produces triple doubles like a rabbit produces rabbits.
And since we’re talking about our European basketball players, Porzingis is better than what he showed on Saturday.
If not, KP will mean Kan’t Play.
This is not the time for KP to ghost us.
He has become a fan “least favorite”; the contract (5 years, $158 million) plus injuries (several) have led to long stretches where he can’t play. So when he does play, he needs to play well.
“I had an off-night tonight and we were still able to get the win,” he said after the game to reporters on Zoom.
Porzingis finished with 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting with four rebounds.
How does a player who stands 7-foot-3 collect four rebounds in 36 minutes of an NBA playoff game? The 6-foot-6 Tim Hardaway Jr. had four rebounds.
KP is known as the unicorn because he’s the rare big man who also possesses the skills of a guard, but it’s worthless if he just settles to be a perimeter player.
After the game, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle praised KP’s patience, and pointed out the fact that he was guarded by one of the best defenders in the world, Clippers forward Paul ... just kidding, Kawhi Leonard.
KP did hit a pair of clutch fourth-quarter free throws, and came up with a dunk late to at least add some sugar to his own game that tasted gluten-free.
“Patience is a big thing and I get frustrated. Like, I’m out of the offense,” he said. “We’re going to adjust the next game. It was a great, great team win.”
Hard to argue that.
Any time you take Game 1 on the road, it’s a great win.
With Maxi Kleber, Finney-Smith, Brunson and Hardaway Jr. contributing so many fourth-quarter plays, the Mavs got away with their two best players contributing so little late.
It’s a great sign, and something that can only happen once.
