Clippers handled Dallas but Doncic presents ‘handful’
ORLANDO, Fla. — With a 126-111 victory over Dallas on Thursday, the Clippers are 3-0 in the season series against the Mavericks, with a strong likelihood the teams will meet in the first round of the postseason if Los Angeles can hold on to the Western Conference’s second seed.
Still, such a record doesn’t mean they’re relishing a rematch.
Dallas guard Luka Doncic is one of coach Doc Rivers’ favorite players to watch and least favorite to gameplan against. Just 21 years old, Doncic ranks third during the NBA restart by averaging 32.8 points and 9.8 assists, and his 11.0 rebounds tie him for fourth.
“Luka is just a handful,” Rivers said. “It takes a whole team to guard him.”
He had 29 points Thursday and his 7-foot-2 running mate, Kristaps Porzingis, scored 30. The pair has combined for 63.0 points per seeding game and is the engine for what, at the time of the season’s March suspension, was the most efficient offense in NBA history by averaging 115.8 points per 100 possessions.
Doncic is “a great passer, can get to the hole, gets to the free-throw line,” Clippers star Kawhi Leonard said.
“He has the whole package so we gotta be ready. Now, Porzingis is out there healthy and moving well, so it’s a tough team.”
Despite Doncic’s averages of 29.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists in three games against the Clippers this season, Dallas has been outscored by 34 points during Doncic’s 105 total minutes in the matchups.
“We know statistically that he’s going to produce a lot,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “Ultimately, the No. 1 thing with him is winning. I know he won’t be happy with this game [Thursday] even though he had a lot of points.”
The Clippers have been able to change their play on offense thanks to the recent emergence of starting center Ivica Zubac, who scored a season-high 21 points against Dallas.
During the Clippers’ first three games of the NBA restart, their offense was strikingly outside-in. They scored the fewest points in the paint (32.7 per game, far off the 47.9 they’d averaged before the season’s suspension) and, unsurprisingly, derived the lowest percentage of points from the paint as well (28%).
Thursday’s victory provided a marked contrast. The Clippers’ 58 points in the paint represented 46% of all their points. It wasn’t coincidence that such output occurred the same night Zubac scored 21 points.
Zubac’s big game and forward JaMychal Green’s continued effectiveness playing center in small-ball lineups means the Clippers will have a problem to figure out come playoff time should Montrezl Harrell rejoin the team, as expected: Who plays center during crunch time?
That nod usually goes to Harrell, but Zubac has impressed and Green was a major factor during a decisive finish. In only six minutes together, Thursday’s closing lineup of Leonard, Green, Paul George, Marcus Morris and Landry Shamet outscored Dallas by 13 points.
TODAY
VS. PORTLAND When: 10 a.m. PDT On the air: TV: Prime Ticket, TNT; Radio: 570, 1330 Update: Few teams have benefited from the league’s coronavirus-related shutdown as much as the Trail Blazers (32-38), who used the four months off to get big men Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins healthy and into the starting lineup together. They have combined to average 18.5 rebounds and 29 points during the restart to help Portland’s push toward a playoff spot. Damian Lillard has averaged 31.3 points and second-year guard Gary Trent Jr., who has made 22 of his 35 threepointers and averaged 20.3 points, has been a breakout star of the restart.