"
What Luka Doncic is doing to the Clippers would be illegal in five states
." It's a tweet from an American blogger during the second half of 121-127 that put the Clippers-Mavericks series 0-2 on Tuesday. The confirmation of the
coup
:
an initial victory and away from home is to make way, of course. But two… two is taking a high-speed train.
One that, or so logic and history say, leads to the second round. The Clippers aren't dead, not
yet
. They need to win Game 3 tomorrow and they will be back in the race. Still uphill, but on the run. Another series game opener loss in
Dallas (over 15,000 fans expected:
Comanche territory
)
would be little less than the extreme unction for a project that would face a very ugly outlook.
But it will be time to talk about that, if it comes.
The story is with the Mavericks, it said:
of the 426 times a team has gone 2-0, only in 27 (6.3%) there was a comeback
.
That includes, in fact they are the majority, the cases in which the two wins are the one who starts playing on his court.
The Clippers are closer to being
swept
: 176 times of those 426 they went from 2-0 to 4-0.
If the 0-2 are isolated for the one who does not have a court factor?
In the current format, seven games and in the 2-2-1-1-1 format, it has come back twice from 24 totals:
the 1994 Suns to the Rockets, in the semifinals of Confefencia; the 2005 Mavs to the Rockets, in the first round) and, the most recent case, the 2017 Celtics, who came back from 0-2 to the Bulls when Rajon Rondo was injured, who was destroying his exes and who now plays, precisely, in the Clippers.
The Clippers, you have to rub your eyes, they
have lost five games in a row since they beat the Nuggets 3-1
and had made, it was assumed, the pass to the first conference final in their history (it was said soon), in the bubble from Florida. The failure of a team that started as a great favorite for the title, added to the fact that the ring ended up on the finger of the Lakers, the
eternal neighbor
, caused a series of changes that began on the bench, Tyronn Lue for a Doc Rivers that came out very signaled ... and that we are a few days away from knowing if not
too
signaled. Later, the Clippers outlined a different team, shallower for points and talent but theoretically
tougher
.
And they did it spending all that had to be spent
: 64 million for four years for Marcus Morris to follow, extension to put Paul George in a gigantic 5x226, 19 million for two years from Serge Ibaka and a surprising extension for Luke Kennard after a three-cushion transfer: 64 million (56 guaranteed ) for four years for the bodyguard.
After two playoff games that should be redemption games but are still the nightmare that never seems to end (we will see ...), Kennard does not step on the track, Ibaka hardly plays,
Rondo's
playoff mode
does not hook with the team and
the top scorer beyond the two superstars is Nico Batum, who arrives between the two games… 20 points
. The
most veteran
roster
in the League is not showing the required ground or experience and Lue (his moment is now, against the ropes) has done nothing other than create tremendous tactical confusion by trying to
overreact
in adjustments during the second game, apparently. without a clear plan.
Paul George and Kawhi Leonard average 59 points between the two but neither seems the best player in the series
, the second highly demanded between responsibility in attack and the need to help Doncic more on defense, who does
seem like the best player in the series. series
. With no secondary team, no defensive plan and
with 32.9% in triples after being the best team in the Regular Season for efficiency in shooting
, the Clippers go 0-2 because they have been worse than the Mavericks. Not out of bad luck, not because of a concatenation of counter spins, or because of various statistical anomalies: the Mavericks HAVE-BEEN-BEST in both games played at LA Top to bottom.
The ball, the control, is on the side of the Mavs, who
are on board the
match point
with two games now on their court and three of the five that would be played at most
. Rick Carlisle, one of the best coaches in the NBA, is giving Lue a refresher and the Mavs are showing that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bet on
playing against them
.
The Clippers, it must be remembered, chose side of the box to avoid the Lakers
in an unlikely first round or a more predictable second. They did so by losing (grotesquely second) to the Rockets and Thunder, two of the worst teams in the League. In OKC the end was, in fact, a small embarrassment because the Clippers did not know what to do not to beat a team that the victory hurt in their final draft scores. In return they stayed in the first round (theoretically happy) with
the Mavs, a better team than many metrics indicate. Or, at least, more dangerous
: irregular and with many defeats against inferior rivals, he has had a great performance against the noble zone. 33-16 total against the top 6 of the course in
net rating,
9-3 in the last 12 (since mid-February) against the top 10.
Overcome a horrible start with the pandemic raging in their ranks, the Mavs have finished off beautifully
, in their best defensive moment of the year and with the team back to its terrifying offensive level from the previous year, with Tim Hardawawy Jr in starting pace. (22 points on average and 46% from triples in his last ten regular season games) and Josh Richardson in the second unit.
Porzingis is at his best defensive tone and, without brilliance, he is knowing how to move to the rim in attack;
the secondary shoot from where they want and everything they want alone: 50% in triples for now with a +33 total from the line of three
(and +16 global); Those role players appear enough (unlike what happens in his rival) and Luka Doncic is taking advantage of the abuse of the Clippers defensive improvisation:
35 points, 8.5 rebounds and 9 assists for now, scoring against all their pairings
. More efficient than in the bubble playoffs and at a
gifted
but perfectly sustainable
production rate
for him.
With a fantastic reading of the opponent's constant mistakes, Doncic is punishing every defensive change… or every absence of it
. Breaking the pivots on the outside, stuffing small defenders into the zone and, above all, always finding their teammates on the line of three or near the rim. In the second game the Mavs signed a decisive 30/48 near the basket. Easy points and 128.3 so far
offensive rating
for Texans. Artillery.
The Clippers repeat old problems: Zubac is not a viable anchor if he has to stay out with Doncic and the
small quintets
neither protect the rim nor take advantage of the theoretical greater aggressiveness in the adjustments.
This is influenced by the terrible form of Serge Ibaka, who spent two months of Regular Season unemployed due to injury and returned just before these playoffs.
In attack, points are missing everywhere beyond Leonard and George, and the arrival of Rondo has not solved (with his good moments) the already recurring problems in the direction that are a refrain that is always repeated in this team. All that leads the Clippers to play the Mavs' plan, who can survive a first half like Game 2, in which Kawhi had 30 points on 10/14 shooting and George, 17. Because, the comparisons are hateful for now, the Texans are
more than Doncic
:
57.7% in triples released, an outrage (the League average is around 38%)
and the leadership, in any case, of a player who in eight playoff games (halfway between two seasons) averages 32 points and gives the feeling of having fun whatever they put in front of him. Including a Kawhi that makes you sweat ... but also forces you to sweat a lot. Too much if your team needs you to hit scoring combustion in the final quarters.
Players like Rondo and Ibaka, with a pedigree well-proven in the playoffs, became embroiled in visible arguments during the second game.
The explanations from Lue and the players were not very convincing and the messages seem to get lost between the bench and the court
if, as journalist Law Murray (
The Athletic
)
assures
, Lue's order for the second game was to “
go to the basket without stopping and at all costs
”. The Clippers didn't. Now, with that character of his so in question, they travel to Dallas haunted by the shadow of failure.
That it would be catastrophic if it is not advanced and the last two seasons are put online.
But the Clippers aren't dead, far from it, and they have time. Although they also have in front of them, of course, Luka Doncic, Rick Carlisle and the energy right now fully vital, electric, of the Mavericks. Very favorite at this point… but pending to
finish
.