The Clippers hoisted their sails Wednesday, hoping to pick up some momentum – but then Luka Doncic went and stole their thunder.
Fresh off a bounce-back victory over Dallas two nights earlier, the Clippers lost their rematch with the Mavericks on Wednesday, 105-89.
The Clippers haven’t been able to string together a pair of wins since defeating Miami on Feb. 15 for what was a fourth consecutive victory. Since they beat the Heat, L.A. (26-16 overall) is 5-8. The Clippers also have not won a game they were trailing entering the fourth quarter all season, dropping to 0-10 in such scenarios.
On Wednesday, an energized Doncic treated the contest like it was a playoff game and “torched” the Clippers, as Coach Tyronn Lue described it, scoring 42 points in 43 minutes on 16-for-28 shooting before a crowd of 3,975 fans at American Airlines Center.
“He got comfortable and he got hot,” Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard said. “He made shots and it’s hard to turn off the water when a great player like that gets rolling.”
It was the fourth 40-plus point effort of the season for the two-time All-Star, and the third time he’s eclipsed 40 against the Clippers (including in last season’s Western Conference first-round playoff series).
For good measure, Doncic’s fingerprints on the victory touched a bunch of other categories: the 22-year-old also recorded nine assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.
The Slovenian superstar’s super-stuffed stat sheet lifted the Mavericks – in St. Patrick’s Day green – over the short-handed Clippers, who debuted their gray jerseys. It made for an unusual color combination for a game between teams more typically known for their blue and red schemes.
The Clippers’ shooting was askew, too.
Despite entering the game as the NBA’s top 3-point shooting team (41.8%) and its top free-throw shooting unit (84.3%), the Clippers’ shooters aim was off all night: They went 9 for 32 (28.1%) from behind the arc and 6 for 11 from the free-throw line.
The Clippers’ tally in the loss was their second-lowest output in a game this season. The only time they scored fewer points? In their franchise-worst 124-73 loss to Dallas (now 21-18) in December.
“I thought offensively we just didn’t trust,” Lue said. “We didn’t continue to share the basketball, and we forced a lot of stuff all night. The ball didn’t really change sides of the floor and we took some bad shots at times as well.”
Paul George did the most damage for the Clippers, leading the way with 28 points – going 5 for 8 from 3-point range and making all three of his free throws.
Or, as he’d describe it, he made his only three free throws.
George bemoaned the lack of foul calls the Clippers received, despite making it a point to attack the rim and having outscored Dallas 42-30 in the paint.
“I mean, our job is to be aggressive, attack,” George said. “We can’t do much more than that, right? If they not gonna call it, they not gonna call it and that’s the (frustrating) part about it, because we’re not flopping players, we’re not players that’s throwing our bodies into other players. We play physical, no different than any other player in this league.
“There’s nothing more that we can do, we’re attacking, we’re putting pressure at the rim … unless we just start diving and playing a flopping game, there’s really nothing much that we can do.”
For his part, Leonard (1 for 4 from the free-throw line) said the Clippers shouldn’t let the officials’ calls – or non-calls – take them out of their game.
“We just got to keep going, got to keep pushing, don’t worry about it and just play stronger and make those layups and those floaters that we’re trying to get to,” Leonard said. “That’s it. Just make every shot you shoot, that’s all we can do.”
Leonard finished with 20 points on 9-for-21 shooting.
In his second game since being inserted into the starting unit, Marcus Morris Sr. added 11 points, but he was just 5 for 14 from the floor, including 1 for 9 from deep.
L.A. was again without starting guard Patrick Beverley (knee soreness) and starting center Serge Ibaka (back tightness), though Ivica Zubac filled in effectively early in his third start of the season, finishing with 14 points, seven rebounds (only one of which came after halftime) and a career-high-tying three steals.
The Clippers’ new-look starting lineup failed to infuse quite the spark that was present in the mini-series opener on Monday.
The Clippers started strong Wednesday, building a 29-24 lead entering the second quarter before the Mavericks successfully started to clamp down – limiting the Clippers to 22 or fewer points in each of the final three periods.
Said Leonard: “Eighty-nine points ain’t gonna win the game.”
All-around DISPLAY from @luka7doncic in the @dallasmavs win!
42 PTS | 9 AST | 3 STL | 2 BLK pic.twitter.com/GZhBWlhz3v
— NBA (@NBA) March 18, 2021
EVERY ANGLE of @luka7doncic‘s unreal handle to reach 42 points in the @dallasmavs win!
— NBA (@NBA) March 18, 2021
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