The LA Clippers dropped Game 2 of their series with the Dallas Mavericks, evening things up at 1-1.
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00:00 The LA Clippers pulled away late in the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1, but unfortunately a team
00:04 player showed that same fight in their 127-114 Game 2 defeat on Wednesday night. After going
00:10 back and forth with LA in Game 1, Dallas led wire to wire on Wednesday night and were all
00:15 over the Clippers from the jump. Mashaka Eligov to an 18-2 start on Monday, the Mavericks began
00:20 Game 2 on a 15-2 run of their own, though while Dallas managed to take the lead back in Game 1,
00:26 the Clippers played from behind all night long. As a result, the series is now tied 1-1 going
00:31 into Friday's Game 3, and the Mavericks have all the momentum right now. Let's go over three things
00:36 we can take away from LA's defeat. First of all was Kawhi Leonard and his consistency. As usual,
00:42 he was a bright spot in Game 2, recorded 35 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal in 41
00:48 minutes, then was a -7 and again Clippers lost by 13. A majority of those shots were great looks too,
00:55 Leonard had several of his attempts rim out, especially in the early going that could have
00:58 provided the team with some momentum. He played better than the numbers show. He was aggressive
01:02 on both ends of the floor, but stood out particularly on offense, deliberately attacking
01:06 the paint, following his shots, seeking out contact, rarely settling for jumpers, and when he
01:11 did, they went down more often than not. They were his typical spots, he made those shots, that's
01:16 just what he does. This is what we suspect from Leonard in this series too, quite frankly, it's
01:21 what he's done against the Mavericks all year. After five games, he's averaging 31.4 points and
01:25 knocking down roughly 47% of his looks in the field and taking roughly nine free throw attempts
01:31 per game. Those are elite numbers in a series like this. There isn't an adjustment the Mavs can make
01:36 that'll keep Leonard from burning them time and time again. He'll keep doing this night after
01:40 night and as long as he remains consistent, the Clippers have the opportunity to control this
01:44 series. Second takeaway was a crucial stretch that killed LA. The Clippers never led in Game 2,
01:50 like I mentioned, though there were a few times when they came close to evening things up.
01:54 Most of those opportunities came with the third quarter. LA tended to lead out of two points on
01:59 three separate occasions and each time Dallas managed to fight back and close the gap. The
02:04 final time it got down to two points though was with the Clippers, in my opinion, out of the game.
02:07 With two and a half minutes to play in the third quarter, Montrezl Harrell got a shot to go out
02:11 the rim that made it an 85-83 game. The Mavericks responded with an 11-0 run over the next one
02:18 minute and 22 seconds that included two three-point makes from Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dorian
02:22 Finney-Smith, three free throws from Chris Hapsburg-Zingas after he was fouled down the arc,
02:26 and a pull-up jumper from Trey Burke. Rather than going into the fourth quarter in a one-possession
02:30 game, the Clippers found themselves down 13 with 12 minutes to go, which was Dallas' largest lead
02:36 since there was 6 minutes and 14 seconds to play in the first half of the game. It was a brutal
02:40 stretch that LA never managed to recover from and as the Clippers failed to trim the Mavericks' lead
02:46 down to single digits beyond that point. Moving forward, LA needs to make a more disciplined
02:50 effort defensively, which is something that Doc Rivers has talked a lot about in these two games,
02:55 especially in close situations. Dallas is capable of going on a run in a moment's notice.
03:00 The Clippers need to play tighter defense and shut that down when they can.
03:02 The last takeaway is the Dallas Mavericks bench. They really had a fantastic game on Wednesday
03:08 night. As impressive as Luka and Chris Hapsburg-Zingas were, I think the benches ultimately
03:13 won this game for Dallas. Trey Burke, Seth Curry, and Boban Marjanovic combined for 44 points
03:19 on 19-28 shooting, which was an absolute backbreaker for LA. Burke was the leading
03:24 scorer of that group, logging 16 points in 18 minutes, but I think Curry was arguably the most
03:29 important there. He recorded 15 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in 26 minutes of action and was a
03:36 plus 30 and a 13-point Mavericks victory. After the game, Doc said, "I thought their bench outplayed
03:42 our bench and our starters. Between Seth, Bobby, and Burke, their percentage was insane. A lot of
03:46 it was just beating us off the dribble, making plays, running pick and rolls, switches.
03:50 Bobby played fantastic from the night. He was given the credit."
03:52 Conversely, LA's bench recorded just 37 points, which is a fair effort,
03:58 but well below average for second unit that led the league in points per game during the season.
04:01 Some of that's to be expected as Montrezl Harrell is still working his way back from a 5-month
04:06 absence, and Reggie Jackson played with the starters in the absence of Patrick Reveley last
04:09 night. Lou Williams had a great game too, going for 23 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, and 32 minutes
04:15 of play, but LA will need a more well-rounded effort moving forward on both ends of the floor.
04:20 Looking ahead, the Clippers and Mavericks will play game 3 of the series this Friday,
04:25 August 21st at 9pm Eastern Time. That contest will air on TNT and Fox Sports Prime Ticket,
04:31 and this is a crucial game for the Clippers in this series.