LOS ANGELES – Luka Dončić might be fighting a knee sprain and an illness.
But that was nothing compared to the world of hurt he and the Mavericks put on the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.
There was no denying the magnitude of Game 5 in the most hotly contested series of the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The Mavericks played free and easy, rolled up a 25-point third-quarter lead and cruised to an impressive 123-93 drubbing of the poor-shooting Clippers Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
And so, the Mavericks are up 3-2 in the series and teams in that position in a best-of-seven series move on to the next round 84 percent of the time (288-55).
But the Mavericks need only to remember three years ago when they won Game 5 in LA against the Clippers to go up 3-2 and then proceeded to lose Games 6 and 7, and the series.
That was then, though. This is now.
The Mavericks will go for the knockout blow on Friday at American Airlines Center (8:30 p.m.).
And with Dončić allaying any fears that his knee or his respiratory system might give him problems, the Mavericks are rolling with momentum. Luka piled up 35 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in Game 5.
For him, it was a little bit of mind over matter.
“I’m trying not to think about the injury or the cold,” he said. “I’m just trying to go out there and set a tone. It’s the playoffs. There’s a lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotion. So you just keep going.
“Obviously, I’m not shooting too great. Not even good. Very bad actually. I was just getting downhill.”
Since suffering the injured knee in Game 3, Dončić has made just 6-of-31 three-pointers, including 2-of-8 on Wednesday.
So he made an effort to attack the paint, get as many close-range shots as he could and, most importantly, kick out a lot of passes, particularly to Maxi Kleber, for three-pointers. Kleber hit five of them for his 15 points.
“With the knee and not feeling well, I thought he did an incredible job leading the group,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Being able to get downhill, being able to score and finding guys – he did a great job finding Maxi for threes.”
The Mavericks eased out to a 10-point halftime lead with Kleber and Dončić paving the way.
That was about the time the Mavericks’ defense asserted itself, too. By the time the Mavericks sucked the life out of the Clippers with a 101-72 lead with 6:30 to play, the starters could take a seat and the Clippers were shooting just 6-of-30 from three-point land.
“I think that’s becoming part of our identity since toward the end of the regular season – hanging our hat on the defensive end and understanding that some of the greatest teams in NBA history have won championships playing defense,” said Kyrie Irving, who helped the Mavericks get off to a good start in the first quarter and finished with 14 points. “It wasn’t so much about adjustments, it was about effort.”
The Clippers had a torrid shooting night in Game 4, but could not duplicate it on Wednesday against the Mavericks’ hustling defense.
“Just trying to make it tough and trying to take the three out of the game,” Kidd said of the defensive strategy. “I thought the guys did a great job of contesting threes.”
And when the Clippers were chased off the arc, they had no better luck at close range. They shot just 37.9 percent for the game. James Harden was just 2-of-12 from the field and Paul George was 4-of-13.
“Just being able to have Maxi, (Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford) at the rim,” Kidd said. “Being able to make those guys try to finish over 7-footers, there’s going to be some times when they’ll win that battle. But the guys have done an incredible job of being able to contest that. And we’re not giving up offensive rebounds. That’s a big thing, not giving up those second or third opportunities if they miss that shot at the rim.”
Said Luka: “Everybody’s on the same page defensively. We’re talking. We know what other players like to do. We watched a lot of film and we’re focused on defense.”
The hot topic heading into the game was Dončić’s health.
It wasn’t just the right knee sprain he suffered in Game 3. He’s also been sick with congestion.
While his numbers have been good, his shooting in Games 3 and 4 was significantly down by his standards.
On Wednesday, he started the game showing no ill effects. After his first shot, a three-pointer, clanged off the front of the iron, Dončić made three of his next four buckets from midrange.
“It’s tough,” he said of the illness. “You can’t breathe through the nose. I have to blow my nose every timeout. But it’s a playoff game.”
And as for the knee?
“It’s not really good,” he said. “But, the adrenaline, once you get started, you want to do everything you can to help your team win. So I just try to keep going.”
The Mavericks avoided the sluggish start that plagued them in Game 4, when they trailed by 31 points in the second quarter.
Instead, they took charge of the series, thanks to Dončić fighting through his maladies.
“Everyone’s different,” Kidd said. “Some can play with the flu. Some can play with colds. Some it does effect. He’s banged up, but this time of the year, everyone’s banged up.”
All that mattered in the end was the victory.
“Today I think was a very big game,” Dončić said. “Now we got to win one out of two. We got to go back to back to Dallas, play the same way. We know our fans are going to be amazing at home.
“We didn’t do nothing yet.”
X: @ESefko
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