When the matchup between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks was set for the first round of the western conference playoffs a lot of people including myself picked the Clippers to win. Then out of nowhere the Dallas Mavericks surprised us all when they won the first two away games back to back on the Clippers home court. The first game 113-103 and game 2 ending at 127-121 both for Dallas. Many thought it was the beginning of the end for the Clippers from here on out.
Then the Clippers went onto the Mavericks home court and won games 3 & 4! In-game 3 the Clippers won 118-108 and game 4 won with a blowout score of 106-81
In-game 5 the Dallas Mavericks came right back to LA with a haymaker of their own and win the game with a very close score of 105-100
In-game 6 the Clippers were back in Dallas again but this time had their backs against the wall on the brink of elimination but with the help of Kawhi Leonard's 45 points and Reggie Jackson having his best game of the series scoring 25 points with even 9 rebounds along with Paul George's 20 points and 13 rebounds double double was just enough to hold the Mavericks off and fight for another day and escaped with the win.
So far in the series leading up this big game 7 elimination win or go home matchup we have seen every away team win on the opponent's home court. Game 7 was taken place in Los Angeles, so if the pattern were to repeat itself then the Dallas Mavericks should win this last game, but boy was we wrong if you thought that.
Game 7 Starts and both teams kept it competitive the first quarter and both teams scored at a fast pace. Dallas scored 38 in the quarter and the Clippers scored 35
In the second quarter though is where we saw the Mavericks start to cool down and rather quickly and were outscored by the Clippers 35 to 24. And then once again in the 3rd quarter, we saw the Clippers outscore the Mavericks 30 to 23. In the fourth quarter, both teams scored an exact 26 points each which meant it was too little too late for the Dallas Mavericks and that the Mavericks season was then over.
If you have read one of my past articles I had one piece where I talked about the dark horse teams and Dallas was one of them. Unfortunately, Dallas is now out of the playoffs and my prediction for them is over. Although my prediction for the Hawks still stands!
Now the Clippers move on to face the red hot Utah Jazz in the Semi-Finals of the Western Conference.
Going to be a great game and series. I cant wait to watch it and I hope you cant either.
Hope you enjoyed the read
- Sani