Clippers take 3-2 series lead, Nuggets survive another day
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida—paul George scored 35 points, Kawhi Leonard added 32 and the Los Angeles Clippers rolled past the Dallas Mavericks, 154-111, on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Montrezl Harrell added 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers, who set a franchise record for points in a playoff game. Los Angeles can clinch the series on Thursday.
Jamal Murray, meanwhile, scored 33 of his 42 points in a second half where he played every minute and the Denver Nuggets avoided elimination by beating the Utah Jazz, 117-107, also on Tuesday night in Game Five.
The Nuggets trail the sixth-seeded Jazz 3-2 with Game Six on Thursday.
Dallas’s Luka Doncic, who hit a gamewinner at the buzzer in Game Four to cap off a 43-point triple-double, was held to 22 points on 6-for-17 shooting.
Mavericks center Kristaps Porzingis sat out with right knee soreness. It was the second straight game the 7-foot-3 Latvian missed.
Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle was ejected in the third quarter of the testy game, which included six techincals and a flagrant-1 foul.
Murray was unstoppable down the stretch in nearly matching his 50-point effort in Game Four. He hit 17 of 26 shots and had eight assists, including a pass to Nikola Jokic for a 3-pointer with 23.6 seconds remaining that sealed the win.
“Whenever he’s like that we are winning the game or we are really close,” said Jokic, who also didn’t sub out in the second half. “That’s what we need from him.”
The dynamic tandem of Murray and Jokic clearly weren’t ready to leave the National Basketball Association bubble just yet. Jokic had it going early as he scored 21 of his 31 points in the the first quarter.
Murray took over late after his team fell behind by as many as 15 points in the third quarter.
“We’ve all got a will to win. Simple as that,” explained Murray, who played through a bruise on his knee. “That can carrying you. That can take you places.”
With the game tied at 101, Murray scored nine straight for Denver to put the Nuggets up by nine with 1:20 to go.
Donovan Mitchell finished with 30 points while wearing a pair of bright, multicolored shoes. The sharpshooter is averaging 37.6 points over the five games.
Reserve Jordan Clarkson added 17 points and Joe Ingles found his rhythm with 13. Ingles had a combined two points in the previous two games.