2023 NBA Playoffs – Five big takeaways as the Clippers force Game 7 vs. Mavericks

With their season on the road, the fourth-seeded LA Clippers overcame a seven-point deficit within the third quarter of Recreation 6 to stave off elimination, defeating the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks 104-97. It marked the sixth time in six video games the highway staff has received on this sequence.

5-time All-Star Kawhi Leonard was unstoppable, tying his playoff profession excessive with 45 factors on 25 pictures in 42 minutes. And the cervical pressure that bothered Luka Doncic in video games 3 and 4 didn’t seem like lingering as he completed with a team-high 29 factors.

Listed below are 5 issues we gleaned from Recreation 6 that compelled the best two phrases in sports activities: Recreation 7 (3:30 p.m. ET Sunday on ABC).

Now comes much more stress

When Kawhi Leonard took on the project of guarding Luka Doncic on the opening tip, this felt like a Recreation 7.

“It was a Recreation 7 earlier than the Recreation 7 for us,” Paul George mentioned.

Little doubt, the stress was on the Clippers. Confronted with elimination, LA managed to steal a 3rd straight recreation in Dallas. However now the Clippers play the true Recreation 7 — on their dwelling ground — the place they’ve but to win this postseason. No matter stress the Clippers felt on Friday night time, it is going to be even better Sunday.

Final yr, the Clippers entered Recreation 7 already in quicksand — they had been properly on their approach to blowing a 3-1 result in lose within the second spherical to the Denver Nuggets. This time it feels extra just like the twelfth spherical of a heavyweight battle and, for now, the Clippers have the momentum.

To keep away from a second straight disastrous playoff exit, LA will want Leonard to ship yet one more Finals MVP-like efficiency.

“It’s going to be an amazing recreation,” Reggie Jackson mentioned. “Greatest phrases in sports activities: ‘Recreation 7.’ Haven’t performed one shortly.”

Can’t blame Jackson for forgetting about final yr’s Recreation 7. On Sunday, the Clippers can take one other step ahead towards burying their previous playoff ghosts.

— Ohm Youngmisuk

A 7-foot-3 floor-spacer?

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle effusively praised Kristaps Porzingis after Friday night time’s failure to shut out the Clippers.

“I really like the best way he’s enjoying,” Carlisle mentioned.

Perhaps you count on extra from a talented 7-foot-3 participant on a most contract than seven factors on seven pictures in a Recreation 6. However Porzingis’ numbers actually can’t be thought of shocking at this level. It’s the third time within the sequence he has scored in single digits. He truly bought one shot greater than he did in Recreation 5.

Carlisle has made it crystal clear that Porzingis — who’s averaging 12.7 factors and 4.5 rebounds per recreation within the sequence — offers extra worth as a floor-spacer than an offensive focus in opposition to the Clippers.

“It’s clearly not simple, however I settle for it,” mentioned Porzingis. “That’s what the staff is asking me to do, and I’m prepared to do no matter, no matter is critical for us to go ahead. As quickly as I accepted that, then it’s not a psychological battle with myself anymore. I’m simply on the market enjoying and doing issues that the staff’s asking me to do and attempting to do the very best I can.”

You possibly can have a look at his peak and argue that Porzingis ought to be getting a gentle weight-reduction plan of post-ups in opposition to the Clippers’ small-ball lineups. Simply know that Carlisle disagrees and has no intention to take the ball out of Luka Doncic’s arms to offer it to Porzingis together with his again to the basket.

“This comes right down to what’s greatest for our staff,” Carlisle mentioned, including that he has had a number of conversations with Porzingis in regards to the topic. “He’s been nice, accepting what our technique was as a staff, locking into it and being skilled about it. What this all the time comes right down to is the quote-unquote ‘getting him going.’ Does that manifest in the very best issues for the staff with their lineup? The truth that they’re placing a tough defender on him and people sorts of issues?”

In different phrases, don’t maintain your breath for Porzingis to have a breakout efficiency in Recreation 7.

— Tim MacMahon

Kawhi Leonard did what superstars do

Led by an offensive barrage from Tim Hardaway Jr., Dallas went on a 17-5 run within the third quarter to go from trailing by 5 factors to up seven with simply over six minutes remaining. At 67-60, LA wanted a lifeline.

Because the lead slipped away, Leonard stepped into motion, scoring 11 straight and 17 of the Clippers’ 25 factors within the quarter to maintain them inside placing distance heading into the fourth. In that closing body? Leonard poured in 12 extra factors, together with two huge 3s to place the Mavericks away within the closing minutes.

Leonard completed with 45 factors on 18-of-25 capturing, changing into the fourth participant in NBA historical past, per Elias Sports activities Bureau analysis, to attain at the least 45 factors and shoot 70% or higher when dealing with elimination (Jamal Murray, LeBron James, Wilt Chamberlain).

It didn’t matter who Dallas threw at Leonard. The Clippers star went 8-of-10 whereas being guarded by Dorian Finney-Smith and 5-of-7 by Doncic.

And Leonard was a menace on protection too. In 5 possessions as the first defender on Doncic, Leonard held the Mavs star to 0-of-4 capturing. Total, the Mavericks shot simply 4-of-13 in opposition to the two-time Finals MVP.

— Andrew Lopez

Preserving an ideal highway file

Because the cliché goes, it’s not a sequence till the house staff wins a recreation. The Clippers’ win Friday made all of it six video games on this sequence received by the highway staff, the primary time that has occurred when the video games had been performed in native markets, in keeping with ESPN Stats & Data analysis. (There was one in-market sequence with out a single dwelling win, between the New Jersey Nets and Philadelphia 76ers within the 1984 first spherical, however that was a best-of-five matchup.)

No, the Clippers most likely shouldn’t petition the NBA to allow them to play Recreation 7 on the American Airways Heart in Dallas. Keep in mind, the truth that dwelling groups are 21-21 general within the playoffs implies that dwelling groups in all different sequence have received a extra sturdy 58.3% of the time.

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Kawhi Leonard nails the 3-pointer and Steve Ballmer celebrates.

Given the general pattern towards weaker home-court benefit and this yr’s restricted crowds, notably in Los Angeles — the Clippers’ reported 7,428 attendance for Recreation 5 paled compared to the near-capacity crowd of 18,324 on Friday in Dallas — it was most likely inevitable we had been going to see a sequence like this sooner or later. In any case, we did see the “highway staff” win all seven video games in final yr’s Boston Celtics-Toronto Raptors sequence when groups performed on impartial courts within the NBA’s bubble.

It will likely be fascinating to see whether or not the Clippers get pleasure from any extra advantage of dwelling court docket in Recreation 7. Traditionally, home-court benefit in a deciding recreation has been price about 1.3 extra factors per recreation than all different playoff video games. We’ll see whether or not that holds with out a capability crowd at Staples Heart or if the highway groups can keep good.

— Kevin Pelton

Clippers’ course of resulting in Clippers’ assist

In the summertime of 2019, the Clippers’ meeting course of was fairly easy: Get George so they may subsequently get Leonard, then the supporting forged would just about maintain itself. That hierarchy was on show in Recreation 6, with Leonard gathering assist from a number of angles.

George is Leonard’s roster peer, a star two-way participant able to carrying the burden on any given night time. However with Leonard assuming the total load in Recreation 6, George settled right into a complementary function by selecting his spots, defending all around the court docket and establishing others. A benefactor of this was his shut pal Jackson, whom George helped recruit after a buyout with the Detroit Pistons final season.

Jackson has a historical past of developing big for his celebrity teammates in Recreation 6 highway video games. He did it with the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder in 2014, pouring in 32 factors in a must-win recreation in opposition to the Grizzlies, saving the season for Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. One in every of Jackson’s prime qualities is his confidence, all the time believing he’s able to being the very best participant on the court docket at any time. The Clippers have been determined for that sort of capturing and playmaking from the purpose guard place this postseason — and Jackson answered the decision.

It may’t be a one-off, although. The Clippers are going to lean towards Leonard and George in Recreation 7 — and past, if they’re so lucky — however Jackson and the supporting forged should play their elements. Championship groups aren’t constructed solely on star energy — there are all the time Reggie Jackson-type video games someplace all through a run. And if this sequence is any indication, the Clippers are going to wish one other one.

— Royce Younger