LOS ANGELES – Clippers fans have seen this matchup before, as the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers prepare to face the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. Because of this, we will see this matchup again this year.
Including this season, the two teams have met in the first round three times in the past five years, and also met in 2020 and 2021. Los Angeles won both close series, but both teams' rosters have changed significantly since then. Their last postseason game.
On the Dallas side, center Kristaps Porzingis was traded to the Boston Celtics and Jalen Brunson signed with the New York Knicks in free agency. Even though 2021 was Doncic's second season in the NBA, he still led the Mavericks in scoring with 27.7 points per game and has only improved as a cornerstone of the offense since then. Additionally, Dallas changed its head coach after Rick Carlisle left for the Indiana Pacers, replacing him with Jason Kidd.
The Clippers have since lost several players, including Marcus Morris and DeMarcus Cousins, but Paul George and Kawhi Leonard were already in Los Angeles by 2020. The most significant changes to the Clippers' roster came last year, with the addition of the following players: Russell Westbrook and James Harden played big roles for the team in the 2023-24 season.
The Clippers won the regular season series against Dallas 2-1, but the results don't tell us much about what's to come, as the teams haven't played since just before Christmas. Doncic, the NBA's leading scorer, led the Mavericks in scoring in all three games against LA and was their No. 1 offensive option all season. Kyrie Irving has settled into a high-scoring second-fiddle role, averaging 25.6 points per game in his first full year in Dallas, good for 13th in the league.
“We have two elite scorers and two attackers, so it's definitely going to be a challenge,” Clippers associate head coach Daniel Craig said after Sunday's 116-105 loss to the Houston Rockets.
“Our staff know we are going to be involved in the game and have already been working hard over the last few days, so we have prepared a lot of coverage. , I'm ready for those two to be on the floor together,''' Craig said.
As for one-on-one matchups, assuming Leonard is healthy by Sunday, Leonard will likely be guarding Doncic on most possessions. George will likely join both Derrick Jones Jr. and Tim Hardaway Jr., who usually play minutes at the small forward position for Dallas. Harden will start for the Clippers, but Westbrook is also expected to get significant minutes to match Irving's speed on the perimeter. And on the interior, Ivica Zubac will go up against Daniel Gafford, who has been the surefire replacement for Porzingis since the Washington Wizards traded the Latvian big man.
The recent postseason history between the Clippers and Mavericks makes this matchup even more appealing.
“I think the chess pieces have already moved a little bit, and with teams that haven't played each other in the postseason recently, everything can be a little bit fresher,” Craig said. “Both teams will be a little more prepared for the first few games and because of their recent past in the playoffs, they might be a little bit ahead of other first-round opponents.”
The highlight of this series will be the battle between the stars of both teams, but the contribution of the bench will likely be the factor that puts one team ahead of the other. The Clippers made the decision to rest their starters after losses to the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz last weekend, but substitutes such as Amir Coffey and Bones Hyland had important performances in those games and were called up. This suggests that they can be prepared when the situation arises.
When the Clippers started losing games in early February, their reliance on top talent was a problem, but recent performances from Brandon Boston Jr. and Hyland demonstrate the Clippers' depth. It gives some hope. The Mavericks mirrored the Clippers' strategy and rested their entire starting lineup for the final two games of the regular season in preparation for the playoffs.
A 4-on-5 matchup is supposed to be the most even matchup of the playoffs, and that's exactly the case with the Clippers vs. Mavericks. Both teams are pretty even on defense, but the Mavericks have the edge offensively, averaging three more points per game.
This series is a test of endurance, and a seven-game round is certainly not impossible.
