The NBA Playoffs game five between the LA Clippers and Dallas Mavericks was one-sided. The Clippers handily beat the Mavericks by 44 points. This is one of the worst playoff losses in Mavericks history. However, they were missing Kristaps Porzingis.
The main reason for Clippers’ resurgent play was Paul George. PG13 finally broke out of his slump and scored 35 points on 66.7% efficiency. He wasn’t alone, as consistency king Kawhi Leonard shared in this. Kawhi himself had a 30-point outing, dropping 32.
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Kawhi and PG both played under 30 minutes this game and set records while doing so. PG already became the only man to score 35 points in 25 minutes, but he shares a unique teammate stat with Kawhi. With their combined 67 points, the pair became the first teammates to score over 30 points in 30 minutes.
FROM ELIAS: Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are the first teammates to score 30 points in under 30 minutes in postseason history pic.twitter.com/Gdlt7ouiog
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 26, 2020
NBA Playoffs: Clippers ride hot shooting to a game 6 win?
The Clippers need just one more win to finish the series and move on to the second round. They absolutely dominated a Mavericks team that was visibly slowing down. This is what the team can do if all the players are on the court and not having bad games. The early surge led by PG essentially knocked the Mavs out of the game well before the first half ended. With Luka not being able to dominate, the Clippers ran away to victory.
However, the Mavs were missing one of their best defenders in Kristaps Porzingis. KP is also an additional offensive threat that the Clippers haven’t had an answer for all series. Nonetheless, the Clipes are in prime position to end the young Mavs journey after such a valiant fight.
PG was brought to the Clippers to be the one-two punch alongside Kawhi Leonard. While he has shown that he can be just that, he has given more evidence to other half this series. He started the first four games on extremely bad shooting. The reason the Clippers gave up their future for him is because Kawhi Leonard said he needed him to make the title run. Now that they are together, PG needs to hold up his end of the bargain by more nights of consistent shooting.
