So far in his NBA career, Luka Doncic has been worth all the hype he had on him when he entered the league two years ago. He’ll look to grow his legend, as he tries to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a win in his very first NBA playoff game.
It’s a lot to ask, though, as the LA Clippers are yet to lose to Dallas this season. They went 3-0 against the Mavs in the regular season and seeding games. Catch this game live on August 18 at 9 AM (Manila time).
HOME TEAM: LA Clippers (49-23, 27-9 at home)
Despite games in which they missed the services of some of their key players, the Clippers clawed their way to a 5-3 record in the Orlando bubble, including a 4-1 stretch to finish the seedings. Without a shadow of doubt, the Clippers will be led by the duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, two incredibly gifted players who are elite assets for the team on both ends of the court.
George and Leonard are going to be thorns in the side of Luka Doncic, and slowing him down could mean the crippling of Dallas’ offense that mostly runs through the Slovenian. Moreover, the Clippers, who covered the spread in seven of their last 10 games as favorites, can throw another pesky defender in Patrick Beverley at Doncic.
The Clippers’ defense has done an overall admirable job of keeping Dallas in check this season, as the Mavericks shot just 42 FG% and 31 3FG% in three games against LA this season.
ROAD TEAM: Dallas Mavericks (43-32, 23-14 on the road)
Whatever grand plans Rick Carlisle has up his sleeve entering the series against the Clippers, those definitely include maximizing the duo of Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis. Doncic is the nucleus of the Mavericks, who wouldn’t have gone this far if it weren’t for him.
Doncic finished the regular season averaging 28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 8.8 assists across 61 games. But knowing he and Porzingis will be marked men by the Clippers, the Mavericks will need the others to establish their presence early to keep the Clippers from ganging up on Dallas’ Euro Duo.
That means Tim Hardaway Jr., Seth Curry, and Trey Burke will have to be more efficient with the rock. Dallas’ defense also has to show improvement after the Mavs got scored on 126.8 points per contest during the seeding games — the worst of any of the 22 teams down in Orlando.
PREDICTIONS:
The Clippers will not have to deal with as many butterflies as the Mavericks, whose collective inexperience and shoddy defense will be pounced on by Leonard and company. The Clippers take Game 1 with a 115-110 win.
