On April 22, 2024, Beijing time, the first round of the playoff series between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks officially began. In this game, Leonard, the core of the Clippers, missed the game due to injury, which also made the difference in the strength of the two teams not seem so big. While Leonard's absence made the Clippers seem to lose their lead, the Clippers played an unusually united game, and they played a very typical team basketball game under the leadership of Harden, which left the Mavericks powerless. In the end, the Clippers defeated the Mavericks 109-97 at home, making the series a good start, and the score of the first round series between the two sides also came to 1-0.
After the start of the first game of the playoffs between the two sides, the Clippers quickly got into the groove with home-court advantage, taking a 12-point lead at 34-22 in the first quarter, setting a good tone for the game. After the start of the second quarter, the Clippers' offensive firepower slowed down, and they still scored 22 points in a single quarter. And the Mavericks fell into a scoring drought, only scoring 8 points in a single quarter, and the feeling was extremely sluggish. At halftime, the Clippers had a huge 26-point advantage at 56-30. The Mavericks, led by the Eastern European team, finally picked up on the offensive end, scoring 34 points in a single quarter, while the Clippers were not far behind, scoring 32 points again in a single quarter, and at the end of the third quarter, the Clippers led the Mavericks by 24 points at 88-64. After the start of the final quarter of the game, the Mavericks continued to fight back and chased the score, but the difference in the early score was too big, and they were unable to return to the sky in the end. In the end, the Clippers defeated the Mavericks 102-88 at home and won the first game!
At the end of the game, the score of the first series between the two sides came to 1-0. Although Leonard missed the game, Harden's rapid recovery in form injected a shot of strength into the Clippers. In the whole game, Harden played 39 minutes, shot 8 of 17, including 6 of 11 three-pointers, 6 of 6 free throws, and cut down 28 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 blocks. The team's other core George, also played well and played very strongly, he shot 8-of-20 in 37 minutes, including 4-of-12 three-pointers and 2-of-2 free throws, and scored 22 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
The rest of the team also played a huge role, including Mann contributed 13 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists, Zubac got a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds, and completely exploded the Mavericks' interior line, Wei Shao also had 13 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists off the bench.
On the other hand, the Mavericks played extremely uncomfortable, except for the Eastern European combination that played strongly, the contribution of the rest of the players was really limited. Its Doncic played still strong, in 42 minutes of playing time, shooting 11 of 26, including 4 of 12 three-pointers, blasted 33 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists of the hot data; Irving was also excellent, he shot 10 of 18 in 39 minutes, including 3 of 6 three-pointers, 8 of 9 free throws, and got 31 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals; although the Eastern European team played well, combined for 64 points, but the rest of the team played really badly, gave them too little support, and finally made them unable to lead the team to win the game。
Obviously, the Mavericks did not play to their own characteristics and strengths today, and relied too much on the performance of the Eastern European combination, and the contribution of other players was really limited. The Clippers played classic team basketball, and Harden also showed his true colors as a star. What do you think was the main reason for the Mavericks' loss in this game?