Mocs News Reporting the news that matters most to UTC
By Carlos Moore
Dallas (Mocsnews.com) – The Dallas Mavericks have slowly made their way back into playoff contention the last couple of seasons by allowing the 2018-19 Rookie of the year winner Luka Doncic to put the team on his back.
Although they didn’t make the playoffs that season, Doncic and the Mavericks have since appeared in 11 playoff games the last two seasons all against the Clippers with a 5-6 record. With an electrifying 42-point performance from Doncic, last night’s 105-100 win against the Clippers puts the Mavs one game ahead in the series and one game away from the Western Conference Semifinals. The team hasn’t made it that far in the playoffs since 2011, which happened to be the year they won the finals.
Doncic shot 17-37 from the field (45%), which turned out to be three more shots than Clipper’s stars Kahwai Leonard and Paul George who’s combined for close to 80 points in the series combined.
Even though Doncic individually outscored George and Leonard last night he’s still not happy with his shooting performance, “It was too much,” he said. “I shot some shots that I shouldn’t have shot.”
The Mavs were outscored in the fourth quarter 26-16 as Doncic sat on the bench with neck pains but their efforts in the first three kept them in position to secure the win. After evaluation, Doncic showed no signs of a neck strain, but the rest was necessary for him.
The Clippers are set to head to Dallas to play what could be the final game of the series on Friday June 3 if the Mavs can manage to win at home. All three games they’ve won in the series have been in Los Angeles while their two losses have been at home.
Tune in on Friday to see if Doncic can lead the team to yet another victory.
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