NBA Playoffs 2023/24, 1st round, Game 6, Saturday, 04.05.2024
Real champions bite their teeth if necessary! And in this context, Luka Doncic’s suffering in Game 5 was worth it!
There are several reasons, which are presented to you slice by slice in my Mavericks Clippers and suggest that the Mavs will put the lid on the series with the Californians tonight
Luka Doncic openly admitted that he would plunge into Game 5 banged up. He has been struggling with persistent illness for five to six days and his injured knee from Game 3 is also bothering him.
If it had been a regular season game, the Slovenian would probably have sat out, I’ll give you my word on that. But it’s play-off time – and so the 25-year-old had to grit his teeth and only took a three-minute break before the start of “garbage time”.
Doncic scored 35 points (14/26 FG, 2/8 threes, 5/5 FT), 7 rebounds and 10 assists in 39 minutes, after it was mostly Irving who drove the Mavs’ offense in Game 4.
This time, however, Doncic again took over the playmaking duties, although he concentrated less on the shot and more on finding his way into the zone. In fact, Doncic took 15 of his 28 attempts from this area of the court.
Doncic hesitated less this time, accepted the physical play of his opponent Terance Mann and for the first time in this series looked like the MVP candidate he had been all season.
If Doncic plays like that, the Mavs won’t have any problems in Game 6 either.
Especially since the last win could have already set the course for a place in the next round, at least from a purely statistical perspective! Historically, Game 5 winners of a 2:2 draw have a success rate of 82.5%.
I also believe the Mavs will win Game 6 because the Texans’ lethargic start seems to be a thing of the past.
The Mavericks finally broke their trend of slow starts in Game 5 by building a 25-24 lead in the first quarter and extending it to 10 points by halftime.
Remember, the Mavs had never scored more than 23 points in the first quarter in the first four games of this series, averaging 19.8 points on 35.9% shooting from the field and 15.6% from the three-point line.
Doncic and Maxi Kleber deserve credit for that. The duo contributed almost half of the Dallas Mavericks’ points before halftime.
However, “Lob City” also contributes to the fact that the team could already be over tonight. One might have expected the LA Clippers’ hitting percentage to improve with the relocation of the series to Crypto.com Arena.
However, that was not the case. In fact, it actually got worse. This is highly frustrating for LA considering they are 30-3 this season when hitting for 50% or better.
Nervousness is seemingly taking hold of the Californians, hurting their chances of keeping their composure in this all-or-nothing game. I don’t expect LAC’s throwing accuracy to pick up abruptly tonight!
In the meantime, Maxi Kleber’s contribution is proving to be important for the Mavericks, as he was celebrated as his team’s best long-range shooter in Game 5.
The experienced veteran scored 15 points in the first four games of this series and hit 4 of 8 three-pointers.
But in the last showdown, the German made 4 of 5 from downtown in the second quarter alone to help Dallas build a lead of 12 points at one point.
I also have a good feeling that the scoring accuracy won’t drop off here
Meanwhile, the sports betting providers are of the opinion that the Californians have already passed the point of maximum resistance, which is the only way to interpret the latest Mavericks Clippers odds.
With average odds of 1.32 to 3.65, the German betting markets expect the Mavs to find their way into this game even more easily than they did in Game 5.
Conclusion: I’m very confident that the Clippers suffered a defeat a few days ago that will prove fatal tonight.
Because now the Mavs have match point in their own arena. They were clearly the better team a few days ago in LA. Doncic was able to clearly win the duel with Terance Mann this time thanks to minor tactical adjustments.
With the support of his teammates, including Maxi Kleber, the Mavs should be able to secure their place in the next round at home in the American Airlines Center without any major problems.
My Mavericks Clippers tip: Mavs win with HC -7.5.
