Final 2020 NBA playoff score: Kawhi Leonard conducts clinic as Clippers advance to second round

This series will likely fit into the tradition of Luka Doncic as the sophomore to announce himself on a national stage in a historic playoff debut.

But Kawhi Leonard was the best player in this series, period. And when the Clippers needed him to shut down the Mavericks after another return from Dallas, the current Finals MVP turned the team on its back. Leonard’s mid-range blitz in the fourth quarter crushed the Mavericks’ last hopes in a 111-97 victory.

The victory sends the Clippers into the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2015. It is also the first time in the Doc Rivers era that the Clippers have won a playoff series in fewer than seven games.

Los Angeles appeared to have this close game early, as a stellar defensive effort that spanned the second and third quarters helped the Clippers build a 23-point lead. The team charged Doncic and forced the Dallas shooters to beat them. That turned out to be the right strategy, as the Mavericks finished 7 of 28 on 3s during the first three quarters, and Tim Hardaway Jr. in particular was a disastrous 0 of 8 from distance. As a team, Dallas shot 42% from the field in the first 36 minutes.

This continued a trend of the Clippers finally solving the Mavericks ‘offense in Game 5, although the Clippers’ own offensive explosion distracted that effort. Dallas got going a little early in the first quarter, but LA shut it down. Throughout 18 minutes spanning the second and third quarters, the Clippers held the Mavericks to just 20 points. That was when the game was won.

Dallas came back with a late flurry in the fourth, aided by LA oddly using Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams and Reggie Jackson together in a lineup that can be charitably described as flammable on defense. But once Leonard was back with the team six up, he scored eight straight points to regain control. Three of them came in with mid-range jump shots that couldn’t be defended, when Leonard came into place and dunked the shot on a defenseless Dallas defender.

The Clippers faced another adversity in the first quarter, when Doncic led Marcus Morris Sr., and Morris lowered both hands on him, resulting in a flagrant expulsion 2. Doc Rivers defended his player during the interview before the second quarter; Rivers said Morris’s reputation was the cause of the expulsion, as the Los Angeles forward has been involved in multiple skirmishes throughout the series.

Yet despite falling short of their game-leading scorer and their third-best player in the series, the Clippers came out in the second quarter with a new ferocity. JaMychal Green played his best minutes of the series, scoring seven points on three dunks and one and one. His energy helped ignite another 7-0 run early in the second as the Clippers regained the lead.

But the story at the end was Leonard. The Clippers’ Twitter account ran out of superlatives to describe their performance. It was Leonard’s fifth straight playoff game with 30 points and the 14th straight with 20 points. He is the only Clipper in franchise history to have 30 points and five steals in a playoff game and only the second player (joining Michael Jordan) to have at least 33 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and five steals in the season. postseason.

The Clippers learned last year against Golden State that an underdog can only go so far without the best player in the series. They had this year with Leonard, and now they are moving forward.