Doncic-led Mavs keep NBA finals hopes alive with win over Warriors
DALLAS kept their NBA Western Conference finals series alive after a 30-point show by Luka Doncic helped the Mavericks defeat the Golden State Warriors 119-109 on Tuesday.
The Mavericks, needing a victory to avoid a clean sweep, delivered a revived offensive performance to ensure a game five in San Francisco today.
No team in the 75-year history of the NBA has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff series.
But after Tuesday’s performance, the Mavericks have at least a lifeline to cling to as the series heads back to California with the Warriors needing just one win from three remaining games to advance to the NBA Finals. Doncic, who has carried the scoring burden for Dallas in the three previous games, finally received scoring support from his teammates on Tuesday.
Six Dallas players finished in double figures, with Dorian Finney-Smith adding 23 points and Reggie Bullock 18.
Jalen Brunson added 15 while Maxi Kleber contributed 13 and Spencer Dinwiddie 10. Doncic, however, praised the defensive performance of his teammates after a display that restricted Golden State’s leading scorer – Stephen Curry – to just 20 points.
“Our defense was amazing today,” said
Doncic, who finished with 14 rebounds and nine assists. “That’s how we’ve got to play, when we play like this we’re a dangerous team.”
After being outplayed in the first three games by the six-time NBA champions, Dallas came out with a renewed sense of purpose at the American Airlines Center.
The Mavs led by 15 points at half-time after cutting loose midway through the second quarter with a 19-2 run that propelled them into a double-digit lead.
Golden State struggled to make inroads into that deficit and were successful on only three of 16 attempts from 3-point range.
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The Mavs by contrast drained 11-of-23 from beyond the arc in the first half, a statistic that helped them into a 62-47 halftime lead.
The start of the second half was delayed by around 20 minutes after what appeared to be a leak from the arena roof allowed puddles of water to gather at one end of the court.
But any idea that the delay would allow the Warriors to regroup quickly evaporated as the Mavericks continued to rain in buckets, outscoring Golden State 37-23.
That left Dallas 99-70 in front heading into the fourth quarter, with Dallas seemingly cruising to victory.
The Mavs were given a scare in the final minutes of the game as the Warriors bench players suddenly trimmed the lead to just eight points.
But Doncic reasserted control and a Bullock 3-pointer put Dallas 13 points clear again to secure the win.
Kerr meanwhile said the Warriors’ locker room had been subdued before the game as his team digested the horror of the Texas school shooting earlier Tuesday that left 19 children dead.
“There was an unspoken awareness of what happened today,” said Kerr, who had made an impassioned plea for stricter gun control laws in his pregame press conference.