The Mavericks defeated the Clippers 96-93 to tie the game at 1-1. With Leonard's comeback in this game, it can be said that the Clippers ushered in a complete body. It's not yet full, but it's exciting news for the Clippers. After all, there was no card to win the first game, and today take advantage of the momentum to win 2-0 and then go to the road, then as long as the Clippers can win one game, they will hope to advance to the second round at home.
It's a pity that the Clippers are still falling short, you can't say anything, he has not played for more than 20 days, he is really not in good shape. The speed of movement on the field is insufficient, and the projection feel is always short. The defensive end is not very daring to make moves, and today's card state may only be 6 percent. And after the card came on the court, the Clippers' overall offense and defense were also affected. Because he wanted to find his form for the return of the card, Harden put away his desire to score, and the rest of his teammates also gave the ball to the card as much as possible.
But it's not a good choice, and Leonard's best strategy when he returns is not to give him the ball to find his form, but to let him shoot less and find his form on the defensive end as much as possible, and slowly integrate into it. The card is less shot, more dirty work, and the most rational way to complete the work of the first game of Coffey is to the small card. The process of the game is indeed like this, the two sides have just come up to the intensity, and Doncic, who was infinitely named by the Clippers in the last game, showed an attitude today and was very active on the defensive end.
The Mavericks' overall state improvement is faster than the Clippers', and their tactics are clear, Kidd blocked Zubac and the two who broke out in the first game. Then bet on the Clippers' outside feel, and the bet was won, and the Clippers couldn't respond. and hit him to make a foul, Zubac went off early. Doncic then fired and the Mavericks led by four points at 23-19 in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Doncic turned on his own offensive mode and led the team to a 12-4 run to stop the Clippers with a three-pointer from the outside. But Harden responded immediately, and he and Mann scored back-to-back points, and the Clippers trailed four points at halftime. In the second half, the offense of the two sides was white-hot, Doncic and Irving against Harden and George, and then Wei Shao broke out, and the Clippers led by one point in the third quarter.
Tyronn Lue hesitated in the final quarter, and Doncic went straight to Kidd for a showdown, and he started the game without resting. It can be said that Doncic wants to fight hard, and Tyronn Lue is still in the regular rotation. But the Clippers are not without a chance, Wei Shao is extremely fierce when he is on the court, he steals a dragon, gives Powell an open three-point opportunity, and assists Zubac to throw a basket, the Clippers have led the Mavericks by up to 6 points. At this time, Wei Shao's condition is very good, the morale of the Clippers is also very high, and Wei Shao is not tired. As a result, Tyronn Lue felt that Wei Shao was tired and let him go, Doncic, Washington and Irving played 14-0 in waves, and the Clippers were beaten 9-0 after Wei Shao went down.
It will be too late for Tyronn Lue to be replaced by Wei Shao. The Mavericks were in full swing, role players started to step up to help Eastern Europe, then Doncic's shot was murderous, and finally Kazi and George went crazy and forgot to give the ball to Harden to control the tempo. Today's Clippers lost in the details, and lost in Tyronn Lue who was not determined enough, and he didn't know much about Wei Shao. Wei Shao has always been a physical monster, you should be like Doncic with a mortal mentality to let Wei Shao continue to play, maybe the Clippers will not be in such a situation. After the game, Tyronn Lue also said that he was afraid that Wei Shao would be tired before he got off, but he didn't expect the Clippers to be overturned.
Leonard also admitted that he shouldn't have made so many shots when he came back, he was too anxious. In the next away game against the Mavericks, Kajiao said that he would treat it as a life and death situation. In terms of statistics, Mavericks Doncic 32 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists, today he is very strong on defense and shows attitude, under his defense, the Clippers players have a total of 17 shots and only 2 hits, and Irving 23 points and 6 boards are still hard at critical moments. Washington 18 points, Jones 10 points. On the Clippers' side, George scored 22 points, Leonard scored 15 points on 17 shooting, Harden had 22 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists, Westbrook had 7 points and 9 boards, and Zubac had 13 points and 12 boards. The best news for the Clippers is that the card is back, at least the Clippers are still the better side on the deck, and then it depends on how the Clippers respond, and the Clippers are quite strong away this season.