Whenever the Mavericks play the Los Angeles Clippers, that means it’s lights, camera, action – and time for Luka Doncic to don his Superman cape and put on another breath-taking show against one of Hollywood’s finest NBA teams.
As if he’s the writer, director and producer, Doncic scripted yet another sterling chapter in his career-long documentary of torching the Clippers. The six-year veteran was at it again on Friday as he scored 42 of his game-high 44 points through the first three quarters in pacing the Mavs to a runaway 144-126 triumph over the Clippers in an in-season tournament game at American Airlines Center.
The win enabled the Mavs to get the bitterly sour taste from Wednesday’s 11-point home loss to the Toronto Raptors out of their mouth as they stretched their record to 7-2 and squared their in-season tournament slate at 1-1.
Doncic has averaged more points per game – 32.9 points, including the playoffs — against the Clippers than he has against any team. That’s also the highest scoring average any player has averaged against any one team in their own conference since the 1976 NBA-ABA merger.
When told of that remarkable stat line, Doncic said: “I didn’t know that. I mean, that’s great.”
It was definitely a night for greatness for Doncic, who converted a magnificent 17-of-21 shots – he was 6-of-9 from three-point range – and also plucked off six rebounds and dispensed six assists in only 32 minutes.
In addition, Kyrie Irving punished the Clippers by scoring 20 of his 27 points in the first half – Doncic had 27 points by halftime – as the Mavs exploded their way to a massive 77-51 lead at the game’s midway point.
The game turned as quick as USA world-class sprinter – Dallas native Sha’Carri Richardson — could get to her courtside seat. One minute the Clippers used 14 points by James Harden and 12 from Kawhi Leonard to coast to a 31-19 lead.
But the next minute, the script got flipped as the Mavs went on a thunderous 35-4 run in building a 54-35 lead midway through the second quarter. In all, the Mavs outscored the Clippers in the second quarter, 47-18, in compiling that 26-point lead at intermission.
“It was our defense, and we had the pace,” Doncic said, in explaining what fueled the game-changing run. “We said before this game that we need to run, so that’s what we did.”
And the Mavs ran and ran and ran until their tongues almost fell out. It was eye-popping what they were able to accomplish, to say the least.
“A bit of luck that they weren’t making shots, but outside of that I feel like we were making them play in the halfcourt a little bit more than they anticipated,” said Irving, who added six rebounds and two steals. “They’re a great one-on-one individual team and I think they know that in that locker room.
“So, we wanted to make an emphasis tonight that they had to play through each other.”
The Mavs were so in control that they galloped all the way until they established a 32-point lead – 90-58 – early in the third quarter on the coattails of Doncic opening the second half with 15 points in less than five minutes.
“They’re a new group, so we just wanted to take advantage of some of their mistakes in transition and make the game easier on ourselves by getting out in transition,” Irving said. “Not necessarily call a bunch of plays, but just be in the right positions out there offensively to take advantage of their defensive mistakes.”
This was the new-look Clippers’ third game since they acquired Harden in a trade last week with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Clippers have lost all three games Harden has played, and they’re 3-5 overall.
In the meantime, the Mavs got back in the win column after coach Jason Kidd told them they were soft following Wednesday’s home loss to the Raptors.
“Sometimes you don’t have to tell everybody what I said, but I saw that (Irving) let everybody know,” Kidd said. “I thought everybody responded in a positive way. It wasn’t that I was making something up. That’s what I felt.
“I thought we were physical (Friday). The Clippers are a big team. I thought Toronto was physical with us and we kind of back down. I thought the guys did a great job of responding to that comment.”
In responding to that comment, the Mavs welcomed back rookie center Dereck Lively II, who missed the game against Toronto with a non-Covid illness. Before fouling out against the Clippers, Lively performed a highlight reel when he chased down and blocked a drive attempt by Russell Westbrook at one end of the court, then turned around and sprinted in the other direction and perfected a dunk off a lob pass from Tim Hardaway Jr. (17 points) which got the crowd fired up.
Derrick Jones Jr. also got in on the act as he showed off his acrobatics by flying through the air with the greatest of ease and grabbing an offensive rebound and jamming it through the basket — all in one fell swoop.
“I just know Kai, and I know he’s going to get to the rim and get his layups off,” said Jones, who finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. “I tell him when he goes to the lane I’m following up, and if it bounces off, I’m going to go get it.
“Nine times out of 10, the ball bounces off (and) I’m going to go get it.”
On this night, the Mavs went and got practically everything. Even rookie forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper drew a standing ovation and a loud round of applause from his teammates on the bench when he knocked down a free throw late in the game, which was the first point he scored in his NBA career.
A dejected Harden said: “Luka and Kyrie were just picking us apart. I’m still trying to figure out everything.”
Figuring out everything certainly wasn’t a problem for the Mavs, who shot 52 percent from the field, 45.2 percent from three-point territory while also distributing 30 assists and turning the ball over just nine times in this breakneck pace of a game.
As they head to New Orleans to open a four-game road trip on Sunday, this was the type of thoroughly efficient game the Mavs wish they could bottle up and roll out every time they hit the court.
Was Kidd’s message of calling them soft the catalyst they used to zip past the Clippers?
“I mean, I think that’s the beautiful nature of this game and being able to respond the way we did tonight,” Irving said. “That’s what it’s about. To be able to not take it as much as a personal challenge — but a team challenge – we have to individually play our roles.
“But it’s a team game, and collectively we just knew in our hearts that we had to be better (than we were against Toronto). I think we proved that tonight in the 48 minutes we were allowed to play out there.”
X: @DwainPrice