It’s Luka Doncic’s world and we’re all just living in it. Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks to an astounding Game 4 win to tie the series against the LA Clippers up, 2-2. With momentum on their side, will the Mavs build on that win and take a 3-2 lead on Wednesday? Or will the Clippers push back? Check out our preview of this game below.
You can’t write it any better for Dallas fans than how the Game 4 ended: on a buzzer-beating trey that gave the Mavericks the win over the Clippers in overtime, 135-133. Doncic managed through a hurting ankle and finished the game with 43 points, 17 rebounds, and 13 assists in 46 minutes. The Michigan Wolverines duo of Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. also supplied much support for Doncic to compensate for the absence of Kristaps Porzingis. Burke scored 25 points, while Hardaway provided 21 points. The two combined for seven of the Mavs’ 13 3-pointers. It’s a huge win for Dallas, to say the least, as it tied the series at 2-2. Also, the Mavs proved they can keep up with the Clippers despite missing Porzingis. The Latvian star was ruled out for Game 4 just moments before the tip-in because of a knee issue. Porzingis is still questionable for Game 5, and if he misses time again, the Mavericks might start Burke again and home he gets hot again together with Hardaway.
The Mavs are 2-1 against the spread in the last three games.
The Clippers missed on their chance to pounce on a Porzingis-less Mavs in Game 4, and now they have to pick up the pieces from Sunday’s loss. All eyes are on Paul George again, as the 10-year veteran put up another underwhelming performance in Game 4, scoring just nine points on 3-of-14 shooting from the field. After scoring 27 points in Game 1, George has come up with only 32 points in the next three games. On the series, George is shooting just 29.0 percent from the field. George has to bounce back with a strong performance in Game 5 before Dallas’ confidence continues to grow. Lou Williams, meanwhile, was fantastic on Sunday, as he singlehandedly outscored the Mavericks’ bench with 36 points on 13-of-20 shooting from the floor. He’s been acting like a crutch in this series for what’s supposed to be a two-headed attack of Leonard and George, as he is putting up 20.8 points on 56.9 percent shooting.
The Clippers are 6-4 against the spread in their last 10 games.
