The Dallas Mavericks aren’t home yet. Facing elimination at home in Game 4, they responded to their first win in the Western Conference Finals, beating the Golden State Warriors 119-109 Tuesday night. The series, which is now 3-1 in favor of the Warriors, will return to the Bay Area for Game 5 Thursday night.
After a competitive first quarter, the Mavericks opened up a double-digit lead in the second quarter and led by 15 for the break. The game then stopped due to a leak in the roof of the American Airlines Center. When the game finally resumed, the Mavericks resumed just where they were and got a 29-point lead with an incredible 3 shots. While the Warriors ’reserves led a lively comeback that briefly reduced the deficit to one digit at the end of the fourth quarter, the game was never really in doubt.
Luka Doncic was not the most efficient, but he led the way with 30 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. The Mavericks’ main story, however, was their 3-point shot. They went 20 of 43 from the center to improve to 7-3 in the playoffs when they make more than 15 3s. Reggie Bullock hit six of them on the way to 18 points.
This was not a great performance by the Warriors, although their fourth-quarter increase makes some of the overall stats seem correct. Steph Curry had a maximum of 20 points, but only threw 7 of 16 from the field. Jonathan Kuminga was a brilliant point in the loss with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Here are some key points as Dallas avoided a sweep:
The Mavs have an amazing night from the 3-point ground
The Mavericks ’offensive attack is built around the 3-point shot, to the point that they often live and die in case these shots come in or not. Aside from the first half of Game 2, they haven’t done so in this series, which is why the Mavericks were losing 3-0 and facing elimination.
In Game 4 they found their way, passing 20 of 43 from the city center on the way to a victory to save the series. They doubled the Warriors from the outside, beating them by 30 points from the 3-point ground, which was too wide a margin to make up for. The Mavericks are now 7-3 in the playoffs when they make at least 15 triples, and 2-4 when they don’t reach that mark.
Reggie Bullock, who was 0 out of 10 from the field and didn’t score a single point in the 3rd game loss, led the 4th game with six triples, the team’s maximum. The rest of the team also came into play, with eight different Mavericks hitting at least one triple.
Making 20 triples in a game is obviously easier said than done, but the Mavericks will need more performance like this if they want to keep expanding this series.
Doncic continues to excel in elimination matches
Luka Doncic’s status as one of the best players in the league was reaffirmed before the game when he was named to the NBA First Team for the third consecutive season. The only other player with an active three-year streak in first-team appearances is Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
If for some reason you were still not convinced of Doncic’s brilliance, he offered more proof when the match started. While he wasn’t the most efficient, he was doing everything for the Mavericks and finished with 30 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists, two steals and two blocks.
There are few players who can control a game like Doncic, and he wasn’t going to miss the Mavericks. Perhaps this should not have surprised him given his mastery in dealing with elimination. Doncic and the Mavs are now 3-0 in the playoffs this postseason, and for their career Doncic has an average of 36.6 points in the playoffs, which is the highest scoring average in these situations. in the history of the league.
A strange night of basketball
Overall, this was one of the weirdest basketball nights we’ve ever seen during the playoffs. Above all, there was a delay in the rain that extended the half to almost 30 minutes. A leak leaked to the roof of the American Airlines Center, causing water to fall on the runway right next to the Warriors’ bench. Sand workers had to climb the walkways near the roof and install a tarpaulin system to catch the water.
That alone would have made this night weird, but the oddities didn’t stop there. In the middle of the third quarter, Draymond Green went to the free-kick line and his first attempt bounced off before stopping completely at the back of the edge. Everyone laughed, even Green who shared a smile with Doncic at the time.
Finally, from the point of view of pure skill (luck), Doncic had one of the most impressive marks of the entire postseason, and he didn’t even count. After a pause in the game, he threw the ball about twenty feet into the air, and as he went down, he bounced once, then sounded around the edge and went inside.
Strange, strange things. Hopefully game 5 will be more normal; a bit of competitiveness wouldn’t be bad either.