Luka Doncic’s 42 not enough to defeat Clippers in wild game of runs

Even with Luka Doncic scoring a record 42 points in his playoff debut, it was not enough to defeat Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers.

While the LA Clippers ultimately prevailed in Game 1 Monday night, their victory did not come as easily as it appeared it would in the game’s opening minutes. After the Clippers took an 18-2 lead, the Dallas Mavericks rallied, completely erasing the deficit and ending the first quarter up by four.

Yet in the second quarter, after the Mavericks gained a big lead themselves, going up by 14, it was the Clippers’ turn to go on a run, entering halftime down by just three. The second half was much closer, with neither team ever again earning a double-digit lead, but the Clippers took control in the fourth quarter, displaying poise and resilience as they held on to defeat Dallas by eight.

What else did you miss from Game 1 between the Clippers and Mavericks?

Least Valuable Player(s): The Clippers’ bench

All season long, the Clippers have been as great as they have because of, in no small part, their bench unit. Anchored by Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, the Clippers bench has provided scoring punch as well as a burst of speed and unpredictability that their more methodical starters don’t always have.

Yet Monday night, the Clippers won in spite of their bench rather than because of it. Collectively, their reserves shot just 8-for-24 — Mavericks reserve Seth Curry made more 3-pointers by himself than the entire Clippers bench unit did collectively — and, apart from Lou Williams, they  appeared to merely be present rather than truly impactful. With the starters playing more minutes now, the second unit will not be relied on quite as much as in the regular season, but they still need to show more moving forward than they did in Game 1. I’d be lying if I said I was genuinely concerned though.

Turning point: The ejection

With 9:10 remaining in the third quarter, following an altercation with Marcus Morris, Kristaps Porzingis was given his second technical foul and ejected. No one was thrilled about it — even Doc Rivers expressed his displeasure in the post-third-quarter interview — even if the technical itself was deserved. When the ejection occurred, Dallas led by five, but a few minutes later, the Clippers gained a 77-76 lead that the Mavericks would never regain. It’s impossible, of course, to say how Porzingis’ presence would have affected the final result, if at all, but it remains a bummer that he was absent from the majority of the game’s second half. Mavericks fans may not be fully justified in blaming this ejection for their loss, but if they want to, I can’t really blame them.

Coaching move: Adjustments on Doncic

Despite Luka Doncic’s phenomenal debut, in which he scored 42 points — a new record for an NBA playoff debut — he was hounded by the Clippers and forced into making mistakes that helped put the Mavericks behind early. Doncic was played tightly by Patrick Beverley, who helped cause five first-quarter turnovers. The issue was that focusing so much on Doncic eventually backfired, as it left Dallas’ shooters open, all of whom took massive advantage.

In the second half, aided by the questionable ejection of Kristaps Porzingis, the Clippers decided to take more of a middle road — still playing Doncic tight, but focusing on him less exclusively in order to close out more ably. It worked well, as the Mavericks only made one of their 10 3-point attempts in the third quarter, though some of that is likely attributable to mere regression.

The Clippers decided to let Luka try to beat him themselves after taking the opposite strategy earlier in the game. While they still forced him into a lot of turnovers — he ended the game with 11 — his scoring makes that feel close to irrelevant. It will be interesting to see how Doc Rivers balances these two approaches moving forward, especially when Porzingis comes back in Game 2.