On April 24, Beijing time, the second game of the first round of the NBA playoffs continued. The Los Angeles Clippers host the Dallas Mavericks.
In the first game, despite the terrifying statistics in Eastern Europe, the Clippers beat the Mavericks, and the score between the two teams was 1:0. With Leonard returning in this game, will the Clippers go to the next game, or will Doncic revitalize his teammates and lead the team to rebound?
In this game, the Clippers' Big Four combined, but they did not play the expected effect, and the team fell into a solo battle again. It's basically Leonard and George taking turns playing singles, and the scene is simply unwatchable. In the end, the Clippers lost 93-96.
A famous scene:
In the last quarter of a minute and a half, Doncic singled out Harden with the ball, and after a meal, he stepped back against the defense and hit a three-pointer. After the ball was scored, the Mavericks led 90-81, and the outcome was decided.
Doncic's pent-up emotions were released, and he blasted out the trash talk he had learned all his life and yelled at the visiting fans. The reason why it is called a famous scene is that this roar is divided into five parts, and Doncic has not fully expressed his emotions after roaring for a while, and then starts a new roar. The five-stage damage is full, which is very classic.
Two incredible:
The first incredible comes from the Clippers' three-point shooting percentage. The Clippers made 30 wild three-pointers and hit just eight of them. Harden shot 2-of-10 from three-point range and Leonard made 0-of-5 from the field. It's not allowed to shoot to the inside, and isn't Leonard's most murderous mid-range shot, why shoot so many threes?
The second incredibleness comes from the Mavericks' defense. Because the referee was very loose, the Mavericks and Clippers fought on defense in this game, and the physical confrontation between the two teams was extremely fierce. The Mavericks were able to defend the Clippers, who were full of offensive talent, to just 93 points, which was really surprising.
Three indisputable facts:
The first indisputable fact is that the duo of Doncic and Irving can really attack indiscriminately. As mentioned earlier, the main theme of this game is confrontation and defense, and in this environment, Doncic still scored 32 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists, while Irving scored 23 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
The second indisputable fact is that Leonard is no longer magical. Young and healthy Leonard, who has both offense and defense, is an FMVP and a DPOY. But the injury-ridden Leonard was fluctuating, and he contributed 15 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals, which was unsatisfactory at critical moments.
The third indisputable fact is that Dengjiao has replaced Kajiao as the soul of the Clippers' offense. Harden had 22 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists, and George had 22 points and 4 assists, and the two men held up the offensive banner of the Clippers. Harden, in particular, played a team-high 41 minutes and 53 seconds. This shows that Coach Lu relies heavily on Harden to stay on the court.
After the end of G2, the Mavericks and Clippers came to 1:1, and the Mavericks used a tough performance to regain home-court advantage, but at the same time they lost Hardaway and Gafford two giants. From the integrity of the roster, the balance of victory throughout the series is still in favor of the Clippers.