At 10 a.m. on April 24, the NBA playoffs resumed, with the Clippers playing at home against the Mavericks. Whether the Clippers, who are ranked fourth in the West, can win one more game and extend their advantage will be closely watched. Harden, George, and Leonard continued to lead the team, and Doncic and Irving were on standby. In the first half, the two sides played the ultimate defensive efficiency, the offensive efficiency was greatly reduced, and the excitement of the game was not very high. At halftime, the Mavericks narrowly led 45-41.
Entering the second half, the Mavericks twins scored points one after another to expand their advantage. Harden's seventh attempt outside the three-point line finally hit! Irving made a back pass in the air, Washington scored three points in the bottom corner, and one shot pierced the heart! Harden then held the ball unsteadily, Irving came out to steal, and counterattacked quickly and dunked into the empty basket.
The two sides still did not open up the point difference, and the defensive quality of the game was extremely high! The Clippers entered the final quarter with a narrow advantage of one point.
In the fourth quarter, Zubac scored on a throw-up, and Washington missed a three-pointer from a big open position. Wei Shao sent out the block. Lively drew a foul and hit two free throws. Harden passes the ball and Powell hits a three-pointer. After that, the Mavericks played a wave of 9-0 climax, strongly overtook the 3-point lead, and forced a timeout. There are still 7 minutes left in the game.
The game was very exciting in the final moments, the Clippers fought back very well, and Zubac also played well inside. But the key situation of the Mavericks was that Kleber and Doncic scored three terrifying points in a row to stabilize the 9-point advantage, and the game seemed to be about to lose suspense. At the last moment, Harden and Leonard were still making their last efforts, and as Harden assisted Leonard to score a layup, it was narrowed to 3 points with 20 seconds left. The Mavericks' key challenge succeeds, and the game loses suspense. Irving made free throws and scored, and the final score was 96-93! Harden had 22 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists, Irving had 23 points and Doncic had 32 points.
With the end of this game, the first group of the West came with a score of 1-1, and the Mavericks came to the next level.