The Dallas Mavericks and the LA Clippers have been having an entretianing first round series. While most expected a Clippers win, few anticipated how well Dallas would play. The series is currently 3-2 in the Clippers favour. However, Dallas led by the mercurial Luka Doncic are capable of stealing the series.
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The LA Clippers have also waged a psychological war with the youngs Mavs. This has led to countless scuffles, most of them including Luka Doncic or Kristaps Porzingis. Today, Tim Hardaway Jr. came under scrutiny after a hard foul on Paul George.
The Clippers bench mob are known agitators. While nothing ugly happened with Hardaway, it felt like it was a foul of frustration. The Clippers did blow the Mavericks out by 43 points today, one of the biggest playoff losses in Mavericks history. Hardaway spoke about the situation.
“They been doing a lot of chirping,” Hardaway says of the Clippers.
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) August 26, 2020
“We’ve just got to focus on ourselves,” Hardaway said. “If I say anything else I’ll get fined.”
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) August 26, 2020
Dallas Mavericks vs LA Clippers
The series has had it’s fair share of ugly incidents. First came the Marcus Morris and Kristaps Porzingis scuffle. This played a part in KP’s eventual ejection from game one. Due to this, game one went in the Clippers favour. While Dallas has fought back, Luka Doncic has paid a price.
Doncic has been subjected to his fair share of attacks from the Clippers bench. Montrezl Harrell had visible confrontations with him, for which he had to apologise. Doncic responded to the Clippers tactics by burying a OT buzzer-beater game-winning three. However, Doncic has been playing on a bum ankle. Marcus Morris possibly aggravted the injury by stepping on Luka’s ankle in game five.
The young Mavericks are showing a lot of maturity despite the lack of experience. They know engaging in the encounters benefits the Clippers. Hardaway has taken the tone of others on his team by not saying anything. The Mavs want to do their talking on the court. However, losses like the one today don’t make them seem high quality.
If Kristaps Porzingis is back for game six, the Mavs have a real chance of extending this series to 7. For that, the players need to not fight the Clippers on the bench but do it on the court instead.
