When he was being interviewed on Devin Harris’ podcast Top Shelf this week, Dirk Nowitzki delved into a sensitive topic and spoke the truth, as he always does.
“We’ve never really had an answer for Kawhi,” he said, referring to Kawhi Leonard, the former Spur, Raptor and two-time NBA champion who now works for the Los Angeles Clippers.
The 6-7 forward has, indeed, been a beast against the Mavericks in past playoff meetings. However, Leonard missed the final eight games of the regular season with inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee. He has not played since March 31 and hasn’t even practiced fully leading up to the start of the playoffs.
So the issue becomes not so much whether the Mavericks can get a handle on Leonard, but whether they will even have to in Game 1 of the first-round series that begins Sunday afternoon.
The Mavericks are approaching it as if Leonard not only is going to play, but play well. He’s listed as questionable for Game 1.
And, in fact, that’s what they are expecting from all of the Clippers, who had a torrid stretch during the meat of the season, cooled off a bit, but finished with nine wins in 12 games before taking their foot off the gas pedal in the final couple of games in the season, just as the Mavericks did.
“You prepare for the best,” coach Jason Kidd said. “You look at when they were rolling – just watch a lot of video of them when they were rolling and expect that’s the team you’re going to face.”
As for how the Mavericks will guard the Clippers, that’s part of the chess match that will begin in Game 1.
The good news is that Kidd has options. Derrick Jones Jr. and P.J. Washington both have the athleticism and the length to guard Leonard and/or Paul George.
That will leave it up to Luka Dončić or Kyrie Irving to start the game on James Harden and deal with Russell Westbrook off of the Clippers’ bench. Expect Dante Exum to see a lot of Westbrook, too.
And, if the way the Mavericks defended in the last 20 games of the season was any indication, they will do a lot of switching when put in pick-and-roll situations by the Clippers.
“They’re amazing players, man,” Dončić said of Leonard and George. “Those two play well together and everybody knows what they can do offensively and defensively. So every game is going to be tough. It’s going to be tough to stop them.”
If, of course, Leonard plays. And even if he doesn’t go in Game 1, it’s likely that he’ll be available at some point during the best-of-seven series.
“I’m not worried about that,” Jones said. “I’m preparing my game for him to play. I don’t think he wants to miss it. I don’t think they want him to miss it. You never prepare for someone to not be there. Always prepare for the best and that’s what we’re doing.”
Rest vs. rust: The Mavericks will have had seven days between games when they take the floor for the series opener Sunday.
It’s not like they have been sitting around killing time. The workouts have been spaced out, but also rigorous.
“It’s been a long break, which is not a bad thing,” Kidd said. “But I think they’re tired of practicing against each other.
“We’ve locked in on one opponent. That’s what it’s been all about for the whole week. The Clippers are a really good team. They have a lot of talent, their basketball IQ is extremely high and they have a great coach in Ty (Lue).”
Early arrival: The Mavericks left Friday afternoon for Games 1 and 2 in LA.
They were scheduled to have a Friday evening dinner at Markieff Morris’ restaurant and were set to have a Saturday practice/shootaround in advance of Sunday’s 12:30 (Pacific time) tipoff.
“It’s an afternoon game, so we wanted to get to LA at an appropriate time and have time to practice (Saturday),” Kidd said.
Had the Mavericks traveled on Saturday, they would have had to practice early in Dallas, then fly to LA and it made sense to get a workout in at Crypto.com Arena.
X: @ESefko
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