DALLAS – Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic doesn’t see any honor in avoiding being swept away in the Western Conference Finals. He remains focused on defeating the Golden State Warriors in the series, regardless of the long odds.
The Mavs are trying to become the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, a feat that another 146 have failed to achieve. Dallas took a step in that direction with a 119-109 victory in Game 4 on Tuesday at the American Airlines Center.
“I mean, I still think we can win, you know,” Doncic said. “Deleted or not swept away, in the end, if you lose, you lose. It doesn’t matter how many we win. We have to go game by game. We’ll believe it until the end.”
Dallas has already made an impact this postseason, recovering 2-0 and 3-2 disadvantages to eliminate the Phoenix Suns, No. 1 seed, in the conference semifinals. The Mavs finished this series heading for the Suns by 33 points, a road team’s biggest win in a Game 7 since 1948.
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So the 23-year-old baseman who was named to the All-NBA First Team for the third straight season before Thursday’s game added to his impressive playlist in possible elimination games with 30 points, 14 rebounds, we. attend the outing against the warriors.
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, he joined Elgin Baylor Hall of Fame as the only player in NBA history to score at least 30 points in each of his first five potential elimination games.
“I just want to win the game and that’s it,” Doncic said. “We have more to do, you know. That’s nothing. We have three more.”
The Mavs took a 29-point lead after three quarters largely destroying the Warriors’ zone, which Dallas coach Jason Kidd called “a compliment … because they can’t protect us one on one.”
Dallas was 19 of 36 from a 3-point distance to three-quarters, at which point Golden State coach Steve Kerr pulled off his headers.
“We weren’t alert tonight defensively,” said Kerr, whose team has failed in its first attempt to close out all three series this postseason. “We weren’t sharp. And I thought we’d let them into a groove, and once a team like that goes into a 3-point groove, it’s hard to get them out.”
But the match was not without drama, and not only because of the leak on the roof that caused a 16-minute rain delay after the break. The Warriors ‘reserves cut the Mavs’ lead to a single digit with 3:23 remaining, and Kerr put starters Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins back on track after a time out of Dallas.
Doncic sank a feed from Jalen Brunson to the next possession, returning the lead to 10, and the Warriors never came close again.
“Don’t panic,” Kidd said. “We had a pretty big advantage. They had to make a decision. They went back to their group and couldn’t do it.”
Now, the series will return to San Francisco for Game 5 on Thursday.
“Everyone in this locker room feels we have more basketball to play,” said Mavs striker Dorian Finney-Smith, who scored 23 points on 9 of 13 shots. “We just wanted to get the win by any means necessary.”