Arguably the biggest disappointment over the weekend, at least from a bettors perspective, were the Dallas Mavericks who completely disappeared in their Game 1 loss to the Clippers. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving combined for 64 of the 97 points scored, just one other Mavs player scored in double figures in the 12-point loss on Sunday. As a team they shot 38% from the field and 30% from three, head coach Jason Kidd has a lot of work to do prior to Game 2. One thing that’ll have to improve is the Mavericks defense, they finished the regular season with the 3rd best defensive rating over their last 10 games. Rebounding could be the key, don’t be surprised they make a line-up change and add another big body in there to battle with Ivica Zubac who dominated the glass in Game 1.
In total 3 Clippers players scored 20 or more points in that win on Sunday. We expected that from Paul George and James Harden, but to get 20 points and 15 boards from Zubac was huge. Kawhi Leonard is still out, there’s no timetable set for his return and the Clippers will just have to hold down the fort until that happens. I was impressed by their defensive effort in the 2nd quarter as they held Dallas to just 8 points scored. Can they sustain that on Tuesday? I like their chances with big Zu at the center position. As a team the Clippers are averaging over 15 offensive rebounds per game in their last 3 games, getting extra possessions in a playoff game is often crucial. In those 3 games they’ve also held their opponents to under 108 points, things are looking bright from LA’s perspective here.
