In the first round of the Western Conference, the Clippers defeated the Mavericks 109-97 and led 1-0 in the overall score. Leonard still can't come back today, and his knee is still inflamed. But the Clippers relied on Harden's supernatural performance and Zubac's dominance on the inside, which still hurt the Mavericks. In fact, in terms of strength, the Mavericks are above the remnants of the Clippers, Doncic is in his prime, and Irving is also in his prime. Harden, who is equivalent to the peak, plays old Harden, and Irving's attack is above George.
But the Mavericks' weaknesses were still caught by the Clippers, their interior line was too weak, and Doncic's defensive lateral flaws. In the regular season meetings this season, Doncic struggled against the Clippers, especially since he couldn't train Harden. On the contrary, Harden can limit Doncic on the defensive end, while Harden can name Doncic on the offensive end. Compared with the past few seasons, Harden faced the sweep of the strong forward team in the East, and the Mavericks really couldn't do it with Doncic to defend Harden alone.
From the beginning, the Clippers' strategy was very clear, and Tyronn Lue was finally no longer a ghost coach who played tricks in the regular season, but just configured the most comfortable lineup for Harden as much as possible. Leonard didn't play, and the starter was no longer Powell or Wei Shao, but directly promoted Coffey, who had size and three-pointers, to the starter. It's a good adjustment, and the Clippers don't have to force Willis and Powell to start, but to take advantage of the second team's transition threat.
So the Clippers played two rhythms, and in the first quarter, Harden came up because he had long enough time to recuperate, and his breakthrough three threats were highlighted again. It can even be said that today's Harden dreamed of returning to the Rockets, he named Doncic on the outside to play singles, either stepped back or broke through the basket to shoot, and then split up teammates in time. Tyronn Lue completely gave control to Harden, which is Harden's favorite style of play. At the same time, Zubac's destructive power on the interior made Harden dream back to the attacking duo of Capela. The Clippers led by 12 points at 34-22 in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Wei Shao and Powell led the team, the Clippers successfully changed the speed, Harden returned to the court and output, and the Clippers led by 26 points at 56-30 at halftime! In the final quarter, Irving and Doncic still did not give up and chased the score to within 20 points. George and Harden responded in time, and the Mavericks surrendered. For the Mavericks, Irving had 31 points and 7 boards, and Doncic had 33 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists. Interior Lively and Gafford were both beaten by Zubac, and the Mavericks needed to adjust.
For the Clippers, George had 22 points and 6 boards, Harden had 28 points, 8 assists, 2 blocks and 2 boards, Zubac had 20 points and 15 boards, and he shot 10 of 17 from the field to completely blow up the Mavericks, in addition to Mann 13 points and 9 boards, and Wei Shao 13 points. After the game, George made it clear when he talked about Leonard's injury that the team needs to forget about that because the team still has Harden on the team, as well as Westbrook and himself. The Clippers haven't yet reached the point of panicking. And with a win today, Leonard doesn't need G2 to come back.
When the Clippers lose, Leonard can consider a comeback, so it's better to recuperate a little longer. Sometimes I have to say that Harden is quite magical, and any team that has Harden in the first round of the playoffs since 19 years can win. Embiid was out last year, and Harden led the team to win G1 away from home in Boston. He does have something to do with leading the team to the floor, and Harden has never missed the playoffs since he entered the league, which is a miracle. In addition, Harden surpassed Nowitzki today, and his career playoff total points reached 3,665 points to rise to 17th all-time.