An analytical review of the Mavericks’ first-round series against the Clippers

The Mavericks’ first playoff series since 2016 was a whirlwind. Led by bad umpiring, a Luka Doncic, and the world united in their contempt for Marcus Morris Sr., he was everything we had missed (and hated) about playoff basketball. All that said, it was a lot of fun. The Mavericks surprised us with their level of competitiveness at such a young age. This team’s sight test, even beaten and bruised, was certainly passed. Now is the time to dig into the numbers and see how this team performed.

Average margin of victory: 7.5 points

Average loss margin: 18.25 points

The Mavericks’ first win came in Game 2 with Doncic on the bench thanks to foul trouble. With Kristaps Porzingis looking strong and Paul George still stuck in his playoff routine, Dallas won by 13 points. His second victory was one that none of us will ever forget. That, of course, was Doncic’s puncher in Game 4, securing a two-point victory for his team.

The margin of defeat is deceptive. The first two losses of the series were both eight-point wins for the Clippers. When the Clippers battered 43 points in Game 5, that average went up a lot. For the most part, the Mavericks looked really competitive in this series.

Offensive Series Rating: 112.1

Defensive Series Rating: 121.4

The Mavericks are coming off a season in which they had the NBA’s best offensive rating of 115.9. Obviously that number dropped when they faced an incredible defensive team, but the numbers are still really impressive. It’s a small sample size, but an offensive rating of 112.1 is still very impressive. For reference, the Houston Rockets had an offensive rating of 112.5 this season.

The Clippers 3P%: 40.4

The Mavericks 3P%: 36.0

40.4 percent from three-point range is incredibly efficient. It’s even more impressive when you realize that only two Clippers shot below 30 percent at 3PA. Surprisingly, those two players were Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. If those two All-Stars had shot their season averages during the series, the Clippers would have shot a 47.38 percent from the deep.

The Mavericks had a great crutch due to a poor shooting performance from Maxi Kleber. Forced into the starting lineup with Kristaps Porzingis injured, he really struggled to make his jump shots. Hardaway Jr. also shot below the team average, sometimes turning off the lights and sometimes disappearing.

Luka Doncic Stat Line: 31.0 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game, 8.7 assists per game

Doncic’s first playoff series was historic. He was the first player to average more than 30 points per game, more than 8 rebounds per game and more than 8 assists per game in a debut playoff series. He joined Russell Westbrook, Lebron James and Micheal Jordan as the only players to average 9/31/8 in a playoff series since the merger. His 42-point performance in Game 1 was the highest-scoring playoff debut in history. His average of 31.0 points per game is the fifth highest in a debut playoff series. The numbers here for Doncic are just absurd. The future of the Dallas Mavericks is in good hands.

Kristaps Porzingis stat line: 23.7 points per game, 8.7 rebounds per game

Porzingis only played 93 of the Mavericks’ 293 minutes of playoff action this postseason, but he was incredible in the time he had. What impressed me the most about Porzingis was his dead-eye precision. He shot 52.5 percent on 13.3 shots per game, second only to the Mavericks’ 58.5 percent of Seth Curry who averaged more than 5 shots per game. He also made nine of his 17 three-point attempts and 20 of his 23 free throws. Porzingis appeared to be on his way to a remarkable first postseason had it not been for a torn meniscus.

From NBA.com/Stats

Kawhi Leonard scoring average: 31.8 points per game

Leonard will finish as the third leading scorer of the first round, behind only the incredibly hot hands of Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell. That was while shooting only 29.4 percent of three. Joel Embiid and Paul George are the only other two players in the top 20 of total first-round scoring who average less than 30 percent shooting on 3-point attempts. He was able to maintain such a high scoring average with his incredible paint efficiency, while consistently performing midrange jumpers.

Derived from NBA.com/Stats

Mavericks guards when Paul George defended them: 30.8 3P%

George may have been a complete offensive absentee, but he still had an impact on defensive end. The two defensive assignments he saw the most outside of Luka Doncic were Seth Curry and Tim Hardaway Jr. When defended by George, Curry shot 3 of 7 from the field and 0 of 2 on three-point attempts. Hardaway Jr. struggled as well, making just 6 of 16 shots and making just 2 of 8 3s. Feel free to give George all the pain possible due to his offensive struggles. But his defensive performance not only kept him on the court, it made him an element that made the difference.