Here are three things to watch for in the LA Clippers vs. Dallas Mavericks series.
On Monday, the LA Clippers and Mavericks face off for game one of their playoff series. We’re here to point out 3 things to watch for in the first series.
Can the LA Clippers slow down Luka Doncic?
The main focus for Doc Rivers defensively has to be trying to slow down the Slovenian prodigy, Luka Doncic. He’s the motor behind the Dallas Mavericks high octane offense and will have to have an incredible series to give the Mavs a chance.
On the season, Luka is averaging 28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. Video game numbers. He’s also been excellent at getting to the line, averaging 9.2 free throw attempts each game.
Against the Clippers, he’s been as prolific a scorer, putting up 29 against the good guys. That said, his rebounds and assists have dropped to 7 in his games against the Clippers, and he turns the ball over 5 times per game.
With a player as talented as Luka, stopping him from scoring is probably too tall an order. But the Clips have been decent at stopping him from doing some of the other things he does to affect the game. Maybe that’s the secret to containing this Dallas team.
A big part of his “struggles” (if you can call it that) against our team has been his three-point shooting. Against the Clips, he’s putting up 11 threes a game and shooting only 27% from behind the arc. If our wing defenders can keep him putting up contested, difficult threes, that could be a path to victory.