The Dallas Mavericks lost more than one game Friday. They potentially lost their best player, Luka Doncic, to a left ankle injury suffered in the third quarter. They now follow the series 2-1 after their 130-122 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers, and after Doncic had to wrestle through a few fourth quarter minutes, the chances seem to be at 100 percent in Game 4 played. The Clippers are now firmly in control of this series.
And they can thank Kawhi Leonard for that. He threw in 36 points on 13-of-24 shots while providing his trademark stellar defense to help give his Clippers the lead. Another night for Paul George was not enough to keep Leonard from winning, and with Doncic now compromised, the Clippers would have to feel fairly secure in their chances. They only need to win two games to advance to the second round.
Here are three key takeaways following Game 3:
1. Dallas has something to explain to do
No, I’m not a doctor. I’m a practitioner of common sense, and common sense dictates that if your 21-year-old MVP candidate can barely run and follow you by entering the fourth quarter of a first round of Game 3 by 17, that MVP candidate is likely to should not return to that game 3. However, the Mavericks put Doncic back on the floor, saw him wrestle to make it up and down the court, and then removed him for good.
The question here is … why put Luka in the game at all? In the grand scheme of things, this series does not mean much compared to its future. A first round over the Clippers would be nice, but it’s not like it would make the Mavericks controversy due to the transitive feature. This is still a flawed team, but one with an incredibly bright future. Risking that future over a lost cause makes no sense. No, I’m not a doctor, but go ask Kevin Durant what kind of mistakes doctors can make. Sometimes common sense dictates decisions. It did not do so on Friday, and the Mavericks should be forgiven for preventing a full-blown disaster.
2. Remove Maxi Kleber from Kawhi Leonard
Dallas has not set up a roster to defend the Clippers. Dorian Finney-Smith is her one really positive force on the perimeter, and Rick Carlisle has chosen to use him on Paul George. So far, that has worked. He is 7-of-33 from the field in the past two games. But Kawhi Leonard is undoubtedly the bigger threat, and the Mavericks have thrown a center in Maxi Kleber at him. Not surprisingly, that approach failed.
They have a few different alternatives to consider if they are really committed to the Finney-Smith matchup on George. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist sits on her bench, ready to lock up the opponent of stars at some point. The problem is the impact he has on his own crime. All of his great defensive moves are flooded with his own awful shooting sport. Dallas generally scores well that they can deliver a downtick if it means Kawhi contains. Justin Jackson is a similarly mistaken choice. Delon Wright is probably not big enough for the job.
But what has become clear is that the Kleber approach does not work. Dallas needs to try something different, because just letting Kawhi get what he wants is not sustainable over a sand game series.
3. Is Paul George okay?
There are three possible explanations for George’s 7-of-33 drop in the past two games:
- He’s really getting less in the playoffs, as Twitter would have you believe. The overall numbers reflect that claim, but its link numbers in playoff settings are certainly relevant.
- It is nothing but bad shooting variation that will regress to average in the very near future
- His shoulder is still sore
There is nothing the Clippers can do about the first two options. If the first is true, they’re just paying too much for a lemon, and if the second is true, they’ll be fine in the very future. But a return of George’s shoulder problems would be extreme in consideration, as it was only a month ago that he said the injuries were no longer a problem. He had just rested for four months, and shoulders are not knees. It does not seem likely that rest there would risk more injury unless there is some sort of structural issue that causes the injuries in the first place.
Only George and the Clippers medical staff know for sure what’s going on, but if he’s still injured, the Clippers need to start thinking about what they can do to get him on time for the two series that will eventually matter. : the Western Conference Finals and the Finals. With a 2-1 lead in this series and an underwhelming second-round opponent, the Clippers were able to pay to be careful with George and perhaps drop his minutes a bit ahead of the series that will ultimately determine whether they are champions. be or not.
