On April 29, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and in the games that ended before, the top three Thunder + Nuggets + Timberwolves in the West all got match points. Including the dominance of the Thunder and Timberwolves in the playoffs, all confirm the gold content of their regular season records, the NBA has indeed reached the stage of replacing the old and the new, and the teams led by James and Durant may only be able to stop in the first round. In the other series, the Clippers were previously 1-2 behind the Mavericks. From Harden's G1 28 points and 8 assists to lead the team to win, to the next two games after Leonard's return, the Clippers' offense and defense were weak, and Harden became the most stable core. Leonard stressed his knee injury twice in a row after the game, and in the words of the Chinese agent, the barbecue lady, he couldn't use his knee and his speed was weakened. Before the game, the Clippers officially confirmed that the small card was suspended for this game.
Tyronn Lue revealed in an interview that the absence of the small card is frustrating, but the team is confident that it has the strength to win this series! In the first three games, Harden averaged 23.7 points and 7 assists per game, with a shooting rate of 47.7+44.8%, but relying on only one Harden is obviously not enough, according to the modeling calculations given by the American media "BR", the probability of the Mavericks advancing is as high as 62.5%, and the Clippers only have 37.5% left. On the Mavericks' side, Doncic also suffered from right knee soreness, and Irving revealed that no team can be 100% healthy in the playoffs, and the most important thing is to maintain the desire to win! Before the game, the Los Angeles media gave the Clippers the key to victory, which is George's state of play, but the overall style of play of the Clippers must revolve around Harden. Mavericks starters: Doncic + Irving + Derrick Jones + Washington + Gafford
Clippers starters: Harden + Mann + Coffey + Paul George + Zubac. At the beginning of the game, Doncic made a kill + named Harden, George received a pass from Harden and hit a three-point early, and then Harden continued to feed Coffey and Zubac, Doncic continued to play singles, and the scores of the two teams rose alternately in the first half. But the second half of the storm abruptly changed: Harden made a kill + George completed 2+1, sounded the Clippers offensive horn, and then Harden retreated to a three-point shot, Wei Shaogan pulled out a three-pointer, George retreated to shoot, and combined with Powell to rain three-pointers! At the end of the quarter, Mann + George + Powell bombed on the outside again, and the Clippers played a 34-8 climax before and after, leading the Mavericks 39-16 in the first quarter!
In the middle of the period, Harden can still hit a three-point shot against Doncic, and the Clippers lead the Mavericks by up to 31 points! The Mavericks home fans were beaten silently! At the critical moment, Irving hit a 3-point attack + a three-point shot, and then Irving hit two more three-pointers + fed the cake and Lively to blow up the frame, chasing a wave to a 20-point difference! At the end of the quarter, George and Harden blossomed inside and outside to stabilize the situation, and at halftime, the Clippers led the Mavericks 66-49. George scored 26 points alone, Harden scored 18 points and five assists, Irving had 16 points and three assists, and Doncic had 12 points and five assists. Back in the third quarter, Irving and Doncic hit difficult goals in a row, Mann stopped the bleeding with three points, and Irving raised a layup to chase only 10 points! Mann continued to respond with three points from the outside, Doncic stepped back and shot, and in the second half, Jones and Irving jointly fired on the outside, and the Mavericks once chased only 2 points!
Fortunately, Zubac and George scored four points in a row at the end of the quarter to stabilize the situation, and at the end of the third quarter, the Clippers led the Mavericks 82-78! Jones and Powell hit three points, at the decisive moment, Kleber and Doncic tied the score with three points, and Harden scored 6 points in a row to stabilize the situation! After a pause, Irving overtook the score with a super long three-point + a difficult throw! In the last 2 minutes, George finally hit a three-point shot, and Harden threw 2+1, Doncic made free throws to chase points, and Harden threw again! In the last 17 seconds, Harden made free throws to lock up the win, and finally the Clippers defeated the Mavericks 116-111 thrillingly, and the score was tied 2-2!
Clippers statistics, Harden 33 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, 12 of 17 from the field, George 33 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals, Zubac 13 points and 4 rebounds, Mann 11 points and 3 rebounds, Powell 11 points, Westbrook 5 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals, Plumlee 6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Mavericks statistics, Irving scored 40 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, Doncic scored 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on 10-of-24 shooting, Washington had 10 points and 4 rebounds, Jones had 14 points and 7 rebounds, and Lively had 8 points and 6 rebounds.
Throughout the game, Harden was really hard, and he was hot in the first half, but he still fed most of the ball to George and Zubac, allowing his teammates to score first. Including on the defensive end, after the absence of Xiaoka, Harden and Wei Shao have heavy tasks, and both of them have to participate in low-post top defense, which is relatively expensive. But at the last moment, it still has to rely on Harden to step up, eat Kleber alone, eat Doncic alone, and throw without a solution, Harden has become the thickest thigh in the Clippers! In this game, George + Harden + Irving are really all kinds of fairy balls! Doncic complains about all kinds of stalls, and then waits for free throws, if there is no Irving, the Mavericks are really not so competitive.