Mavs answer after rout in Game 1
LOS ANGELES — Led by Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, the Dallas Mavericks bounced back to take away home-court advantage from the Los Angeles Clippers and newly returned and rusty Kawhi Leonard.
Doncic scored 32 points, Irving added 23 and the Mavs won 96-93 on Tuesday night to tie their Western Conference first-round playoff series at a game apiece.
“Obviously it was a must-win and everybody was locked in,” said P.J. Washington Jr., who had a big fourth quarter and finished with 18 points. “They punched us in the mouth in Game 1 and we just wanted to respond.”
Game 3 is Friday in Dallas.
Leonard had 15 points and seven rebounds in 35 minutes of his first game since March 31. He hadn’t played or had any contact practices during that stretch because of inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee.
“I felt good,” Leonard said. “We still got more games to play and more time to get better. Just keep trying to get a rhythm back.”
The Mavs led most of the game two days after they trailed by 29 points and eventually lost 10997.
“We played 48 minutes of physical basketball,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “Both teams were under 100. It was ‘90s basketball at its best.”
Paul George and James Harden led the Clippers with 22 points each. Ivica Zubac had 13 points and 12 rebounds. The team shot 37% from the floor and made just 8 of 30 3-pointers.
PACERS 125, BUCKS 108
Pascal Siakam scored 37 points and Indiana overcame another fantastic first-half performance from Damian Lillard to win at Milwaukee and tie their Eastern Conference series at a game apiece.
Indiana snapped a 10-game playoff losing streak that began with a Game 7 loss to Cleveland in a first-round series in 2018. The Pacers were swept by Boston in 2019 and by Miami in 2020.
Two nights after scoring all 35 of his points in the first half of the Bucks’ 109-94 Game 1 victory, Lillard had 26 by halftime Tuesday and finished with 34.
T-WOLVES 105, SUNS 93
Jaden McDaniels scored 25 points for a career best in the playoffs and spearheaded another stifling defensive performance by Minnesota in a victory over visiting Phoenix to take a 2-0 lead in their series.
Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert each had 18 points for the Wolves to offset a smothering of Anthony Edwards by the Suns, who held him to 15 points on 3-for-12 shooting after allowing him 33 in the opener.
Suns guard Grayson Allen aggravated the sprained right ankle he suffered in the series opener, forcing him to hobble off in the third quarter of Game 2 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday — and again putting his availability in question.