A ten-point halftime deficit was removed from insurmountable for the Los Angeles Clippers, however by the point the third quarter ended, that they had discovered themselves in a 20 level gap.
Los Angeles recovered a bit by the tip of factors that disastrous interval, however the harm was performed, successfully sinking their hopes of incomes a vital 3-2 sequence lead.
To make issues worse, the fourth quarter was extra of the identical, as celebrity guard Luka Doncic saved piling on and Dallas’s backups saved up the tempo towards Los Angeles’s personal bench gamers.
Doncic was as soon as once more a one-man wrecking crew for Dallas, ending with a line of 35 factors, seven rebounds and 10 assists. He was supported by a robust evening off the bench from Maxi Kleber, who sunk 5 of his seven three-point makes an attempt and completed with 15 factors of his personal.
In contrast, the Clippers’ stars have been all no-shows. Paul George and James Harden racked up simply 15 and 7 factors, respectively, regardless of combining for 25 pictures from the sphere, whereas Russell Westbrook put up six factors on 2-for-11 capturing as his disastrous sequence continues.
It is value noting that even that pedestrian stage of manufacturing was largely accrued after the sport was kind of out of hand; issues have been even uglier than the field rating may suggest.
The Mavericks are getting ready to reaching the Western Convention semifinals for simply the second time since their 2011 championship run. The final time it occurred was 2022, when Doncic led the group to the Western Convention Finals, which they in the end misplaced to the Golden State Warriors. This yr, in a wide-open West, Dallas can begin to dream about what is likely to be attainable — if they’ll win yet one more sport.
As for the Clippers, they seem to be a loss away from one more disappointing playoff exit, and as soon as once more, an actual reckoning as to the route of their franchise. The expertise is there yr in and yr out, however they seem to be a group that constantly comes up brief every summer time.
Nonetheless, these robust selections are a minimum of a loss away, and the Clippers can nonetheless utterly flip the narrative with a pair of wins in Video games 6 and seven, set to be performed on Friday and if essential, Sunday. The Mavericks shall be internet hosting the potential Recreation 6 clincher, whereas a win for the Clippers in that contest would ship them again house for the winner-take-all Recreation 7.
The winner of this sequence will tackle the top-seeded Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, who accomplished a cushty first spherical sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans.
