The Clippers woke up today from a nightmare game in Los Angeles in this Wednesday’s embarrassing defeat against the Mavericks in Game 5 of the postseason’s first round. Now the Texan team lead the series 3-2 and head back to Dallas for Game 6, mostly due to another perplexing performance from former league MVP James Harden.
The superstar only dropped in 2 for 12, and missed 6 of his 7 shots from beyond the arc. The veteran now holds the playoff’s record for most matches with 10-plus attempts and two or fewer games, becoming the 10th time this ever happens in his career.
As The Beard produced strong exhibitions in his squad’s two victories in the series, his coach Ty Lue defended him. “Being human,” he said postgame. “He’s allowed to have a bad game. We didn’t shoot the ball well. They tried to get up and pressure a little bit, which we didn’t handle like we had in the first four games. He played bad. It’s possible. He didn’t play well.”
Jaden Hardy in 6 minutes tonight:
14 PTS / 1 AST / 5-8 FG / 2-4 3PTJames Harden in 33 minutes tonight:
7 PTS / 7 AST / 2-12 FG / 1-7 3PTYikes 😬 pic.com/eHPcauXaBl
Despite losing 123 to 93, which is the L.A. franchise’s biggest ever postseason defeat, their players were rather calm after the storm. Paul George, for example, simplified their poor performance to “uncharacteristic mistakes that we made.”
“That wasn’t who we’ve been in this series, and that’s not who we are,” he added. “We’ve got to be better, especially in this situation. But we’ve been here before, going to Dallas being down 3-2, so we’ve just got to have a win-only mentality in Dallas.”
By the fourth quarter, the contest seemed pretty much decided, as both coaches decided to pull out their starters and give them rest before the potential closeout in Texas this Friday.
The Clippers tactician was well aware that his team lacked concentration in general. “We just didn’t play well all around,” Lue said. “Defensively, offensively, we just didn’t play a good game. That’s OK. Turn the page.”
Luka Doncic led the Mavericks with a 35-point display despite playing on a sprained right knee
Dallas star Luka Doncic was everything that James Harden hoped to be in Game 5 of this best-of-seven matchup of the Western Conference. The Slovenian star scored 20 of his 35 points in the second half, and added 10 assists and 7 rebounds to his dominant stat line.
Probably the most impressive fact, is how the European guard has been excelling while playing on a sprained right knee. Not only this, but the star has felt ill and congested for many days, as he’s been seen blowing out his nose during timeouts. If this was regular season, he’d probably be on the sidelines.
“I think it was a very big game,” Luka said postgame. “We win, and now we’ve got to win one out of two. We’ve got to go back to Dallas and play the same way.”
However, when asked about his injury, he said his knee “is not good,” but he has no time to rest. “But you talk about adrenaline in a playoff game,” he shared. “Once you get started, you want to do everything you can to help your team win. I just wanted to keep going.”
