The Clippers are ready for Dallas

The parity in the NBA this season sets up what will be a wildly entertaining postseason. No first-round matchup is more enticing than the Clippers versus the Mavericks.

Meeting in the 2020 and 2021 playoffs, these two teams have a history. LA won the first series in six games and the second one in seven, but Dallas is seeking revenge and finished off the regular season as the hottest team in the league.

“I think those chess pieces have moved a little bit already,” said associate head coach Dan Craig. “Those first couple of games, I think both teams will be a little bit more prepared and maybe a little bit further ahead than some of these other first-round opponents because of that recent past with them in the playoffs.”

Kyrie Irving is one of the new faces in this postseason rivalry. He is an assassin capable of scoring 40 points on any given night. Irving is at his best playing the role of Robin, and Luka Doncic remains the main concern for the Clippers.

“He is 6’8″ and a hell of a passer, so you got to pick your poison,” said Tyronn Lue. “He is too great to give him a steady diet of the same thing over and over again. You got to mix up your coverages and have different looks to keep him off balance.”

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic attempts a shot against Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 1 of the 2021 playoffs. Photo credit: Austin Sosa/Black News Service (BNS)

“We know he is going to score the basketball. We can’t let him get 40 (points), 15 (assists), and 8 (rebounds), but if he gets 40 (points) and 5 (assists), that is a different team,” said Lue.

LA needs to wear Doncic down as the series prolongs. The emphasis on offense needs to be attacking Doncic. He can rest on the defensive side of the ball during the regular season, but facing the same team for seven straight games is a different story.

The Clippers have the power to dictate how involved the Mavericks superstar will be defensively by utilizing screens and matchups. If they force him to burn more energy than he is used to, he will have that much less in the tank by the end of the series. It helps that Doncic is a below-average defender, so going at him benefits LA in multiple ways.

“If he has to wear himself down trying to score 40 or 50, and he has to do all that offensively, then he doesn’t have that much left in the tank defensively,” said Lue.

“We can’t give him easy shots, we can’t let him get to the free-throw line,” Lue went on to say. “You can’t let him deflate you. We all know he is going to make tough step-backs; he is going to make tough shots. That is what he does.”

The Clippers added an element to their team that they did not have in the past versus Dallas. The addition of James Harden brought in a dynamic playmaker and scorer who could be the missing piece.

The one monkey on Harden’s back has been his inability to get it done in the postseason, something the Clippers franchise knows more about than they would like to admit. Neither has won a championship, and Dallas wants to keep it that way.

“I have had some not-so-great games (in the playoffs), but I have had some really good games. For me, the goal is to win, and that is the only thing missing at the highest level as far as my NBA career,” said Harden.

He has not been an All-Star the past two seasons, and it has been six years since he was the league MVP, but Harden is still one of the most talented players in the NBA. No other team has a third option quite like Harden, especially on the offensive end.

“I think James is a big part of having a well-balanced roster, and it is going to help in the playoffs as teams try to double Kawhi and PG. It is tough when you got another guy like James at the head of the snake as well,” said Norman Powell.

Norman Powell knows what it takes to win. He won a championship with Kawhi Leonard in 2019 when they were members of the Toronto Raptors.

“It takes a full team being tied together to go through the ups and downs of a playoff run. It is not going to be all highs; there are going to be some lows in there. It is going to be the team that is tighter during those times and playing all out for 48 minutes,” said Powell.

The Clippers won the regular season series against the Mavericks 2-1, but all three games came before the turn of the new year. Both teams have plenty to prove, and this first-round matchup will be a dogfight.

“Everything is different, everything matters, every possession. What happens in those regular-season games doesn’t really tell the tale of what is going to happen in the playoffs. It is a totally different approach, totally different preparation, and totally different execution,” said Powell.

The ongoing saga of Kawhi Leonard’s status for game one continues. No one within the organization has given any indication that he will play or miss. It feels like he will give it a go, but he is questionable, and there is certainly some concern about whether he will be 100 percent.


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