Kyrie Irving scored 28 of his 30 points in the second half and the Dallas Mavericks advanced to the second round with a resounding 114-101 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers in Game 6 of the Western Conference series on Friday night.
Luka Doncic recorded 28 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds for the fifth-seeded Mavericks. Dallas will meet the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the next round.
“To be honest with you, I was physically tired and exhausted in that first half,” Irving said. “Playing defense at a high level will do that to you. I’m just grateful for my teammates picking me up. We came into halftime and it was … 52-52, so it was anybody’s game.
“Then we came out in the third quarter and I feel like we hit first and the rest was history for the rest of the game.”
P.J. Washington added 14 points, Daniel Gafford had 13 and reserve Dereck Lively II contributed 10 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks.
Norman Powell scored 20 points off the bench and Paul George added 18 for the fourth-seeded Clippers, who were without Kawhi Leonard (knee) for the third straight game and fourth time in the series.
“With our roster, we have enough to compete and be the last team standing, but health is a huge part of it,” James Harden said. “The best ability is availability. … For somebody like (Kawhi), he wants to be out there. He did everything in his power to be out there and compete with us. It’s definitely frustrating for the entire group that had a pretty good regular season and had high hopes coming into the postseason.”
Ivica Zubac tallied 17 points and 11 rebounds, Harden added 16 points, 13 assists and seven boards, and Terance Mann had 14 points for Los Angeles.
Dallas lost forward Maxi Kleber to a right shoulder sprain early in the second quarter.
The Mavericks shot 48.2 percent from the floor, including 12 of 36 from 3-point range. Irving made five 3-pointers and Washington added four.
Los Angeles connected on 41.5 percent of its attempts and was just 8 of 31 from behind the arc.
The Clippers eliminated Dallas in the first round of the 2020 and 2021 playoffs but barely put up a fight over the first 6 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter.
Dallas had a 15-point advantage to open the period and soon pushed it to 100-78 with 7:36 left after back-to-back baskets by Doncic and Derrick Jones Jr.
A short time later, Irving was dancing and prancing around the coverage of P.J. Tucker. He drove toward the right corner and swished a 3-pointer. Tucker fouled him and Irving hit the free throw for a four-point play and a 106-82 lead with 5:38 remaining.
The electric play had Dallas in celebration mode, but Los Angeles began making a charge. Harden’s three-point play capped a 13-2 burst that trimmed the Clippers’ deficit to 108-95 with 3:11 to go.
But with the margin at 14 with 1:14 left, both teams emptied the benches.
Dallas scored the first eight points of the third quarter and 20 of the first 26 to turn a tie game into a 72-58 lead. Irving made two treys during the rush, including the one to make it a 14-point cushion with 5:49 remaining in the period.
“We came out and had three out of four bad possessions,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “We turned the ball over and they got some easy ones in transition. Then we wasn’t sharp offensively, which allowed them to get out in transition to get some steals and some easy baskets. They went up eight and had the momentum from there.”
Irving’s third trey of his 13-point quarter gave Dallas an 85-70 lead. The Mavericks outscored the Clippers 35-20 in the stanza to take an 87-72 lead into the final quarter.
Doncic scored 14 first-quarter points to help Dallas hold a 34-26 lead.
The contest was tied at 52 at the break. Doncic had 18 for the Mavericks, and George had 14 in the half for the Clippers.
–Field Level Media
