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Strong win! Very surprised they pulled this out without Kawhi. Glad the home teams haven't lost yet was worried we'd be the first. Hope it keeps up for both LA teams' game 2

A win's a win, but man, that fourth quarter was extremely concerning. Feels like the same mental breakdown we've been watching in the playoffs every year for the past 12 years. I can't watch that kind of prevent offense down the stretch and not get PTSD flashbacks to Game 5 against OKC in 2014.

KL2 wrote:We won but … that 4th quarter man. Gave the Mavs a lot of confidence going into game 2.

They would have had confidence no matter what I think. But this is a reminder to our guys what happens with just 90-95% effort.

We did answer their runs in the 3rd and early 4th pretty well, getting it back to 20. At some point I think we decided to try to bleed 20 seconds off every possession, the results weren’t pretty but we did accomplish the primary goal lol.

MartinToVaught wrote:A win's a win, but man, that fourth quarter was extremely concerning. Feels like the same mental breakdown we've been watching in the playoffs every year for the past 12 years.

I’d say this win was way, way more than just a win, even with the 4th quarter. Few considered us the favorites, and that was before Kawhi was out.This gives us hope, if we can just get Kawhi back soon…

Important takeaways here. Harden is playing great and focussed. He’s capable of winning a game. Zu, despite coming a bit unglued, is going to be a factor against this team. Westbrook minutes change the dynamics making this a tough team to hatch a plan against. We are also way better defensively than others have given us credit. If Kawhi come back healthy we are a serious force to reckon with.

Also, how did Richard Jefferson say "the team that loses has the advantage" with a straight face? Every time I think the NBA media can't get worse, it finds a new low.

Hell yeah! Good win

MartinToVaught wrote:Also, how did Richard Jefferson say "the team that loses has the advantage" with a straight face? Every time I think the NBA media can't get worse, it finds a new low.

Bro me and my son were laughing so hard at RJ’s comment. So Mavs have the advantage because they’ll make adjustments and the Clippers will be “forced” to play defense? I mean WTF?

I don't get Kidd waving the white flag down 10 with a minute to go. It's been done.

Is it me or does Harden look thinner today? The time off seems to have done them all some good, they looked springy and Westbrook looked like he had extra hops! TLue needs to remind them that their best version is what they did in the first half.

NickP wrote:

MartinToVaught wrote:Also, how did Richard Jefferson say "the team that loses has the advantage" with a straight face? Every time I think the NBA media can't get worse, it finds a new low.

Bro me and my son were laughing so hard at RJ’s comment. So Mavs have the advantage because they’ll make adjustments and the Clippers will be “forced” to play defense? I mean WTF?

Yeah--reminds me of an announcer talking about a Clippers-Warriors game some years back that said "After that run at the end of the third, the Warriors have the Clippers just where they want them." We were up by 15.

Anyway, I'm in "strong takeaways" group. I don't expect Harden to have 7 games like this--but getting 2 or 3 would be huge. PG was solid on offense and played fantastic D. Zu came out like a beast. Westbrook was/is the X factor we need him to be. We looked focused, which we hadn't for a while. The first half may have been the best half we've played all year.

Great game from the Clips. Harden, PG, Zu, everybody contributed.

Did anybody notice on the Zu flagrant play Harden getting literally thrown to the court? Guess the refs didn't

Some ridiculous flopping by the Mavs on defense - and a couple of times it really cost them - when flopping off their man, trying to fake an offensive foul, our shooter was then left wide open - and at least one three-pointer resulted.

As usual Doncic had the best Academy award performance, holding his left ear like he got hammered - on the reply he wasn't touched. I wish the NBA would really crack down on this stuff- oh but then Lebron would have to retire also.

Kawhi coming back in Game 2 seems to have been the plan all along. Was this the ultimate load management gamble? Guess we'll see on Tuesday.

esqtvd wrote:I don't get Kidd waving the white flag down 10 with a minute to go. It's been done.

Didn’t get that one but I don’t see Kidd as a smart coach either.

MartinToVaught wrote:

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the refs were terrible today and if it weren't for the refs, Dallas would have lost by 20-25 points.

What is up with that Zubac play? He was getting fouled to begin with and he never made contact with Kleiber's head. I don't think I've ever seen a player get called for a tech and a flagrant on the same play- maximum # of free throws or something? Seemed crooked to me.

Also, PG was completely vertical- maybe moving sideways, but that foul should not have been called and they still messed it up on replay.

Great win Clippers! We outplayed them start to finish with a few minutes here and there of lackluster effort. Fully expected Mavs to mount some sort of comeback and they did. It is the playoffs after all.

Norm wasn’t much of a factor so it’s nice to know that he has a lot more to offer in other games.
Our intensity that 1st half was amazing!

MartinToVaught wrote:

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I don't really like the points in the paint vs FTA comparison people make. Logically if you are able to convert in the paint more often, then it means you aren't being fouled, and if you are being fouled and converting, you would be getting half the FTA's with and 1's vs another team missing and going to the line.

It's actually not a good stat, but NBA fans and media are so used to citing it that people don't even really think it through.

Now, I'm not saying that you can't have a lot of seemingly missed calls while having a lot of points in the paint, but the comparison of pts in the paint to FTA doesn't actually say whether you did or not, in fact it is more likely from a logical standpoint to imply the opposite.

NickP wrote:We’re winning G1. Book it.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER

my biggest concern for a LONG, LONG time now was what kinda james harden we were gonna get in the playoffs. well, i think it's at the very least safe to say that he's still capable.

one of my other big concerns was whether the key guys who were so important to our power run earlier in the season were gonna be able to get back to their previous level of play - namely zu, and he really showed out. like i mentioned before, it boggles my mind that people still slander him (whether here or elsewhere) and it's kinda obvious those critics are just box score scouts who don't really have an eye for on-court impact. zu was instrumental in nullifying SO many shots around the rim, snagging key rebounds, and that's not even including the fact that he was looking like one of the great C's of the 80's, every time he scored against the mavs. him being back at this level gives me a lot of confidence.

also seeing a lot of PG hate that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. mavs made it a priority to prevent him from being comfortable, he was thrown a ticking time bomb with just a few seconds to spare several times (we can thank his teammates for that), and despite all that he didn't force the issue with bad shots or horrible turnovers like we have seen way too many times in the past. he wasn't fated to be a hero in this game and perhaps that's precisely why we won the game - though i think his critics would be loath to admit that.

there were other things, too, and obviously it's just one game but i feel like we've seen the two or three most critical things we need to see to feel good about the series moving forward. and then on that note, we just need to hope we see kawhi in game 2.