Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving were not on the floor until the final seconds of Dallas' Game 6 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.
They had already finished their business. Doncic sat on the bench wearing a warm-up shirt over his uniform, basking in the cheers from the home crowd, while Irving was leaning against a member of the Mavericks' coaching staff.
Dallas won 114-101 and earned a ticket to the Western Conference semifinals. Game 1 will be against OKC in Oklahoma City on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.
OKC won the regular season series 3-1, but that doesn't really matter as they prepare to face a Dallas team that plays their best basketball. The Mavericks have won 16 of their past 21 games.
“Any team that's in the playoffs is a really good team,” OKC head coach Mark Daigneault said Sunday. “We obviously have a lot of respect for (Dallas). They've played exceptionally well, not just during this period, but the entire season.”
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OKC's regular season performance against Dallas doesn't tell the whole story.
Neither Doncic nor Irving played in all three of OKC's wins. Then, when the Thunder ended the regular season with a 135-86 home win on April 14, the Mavericks rested their entire starting lineup.
Doncic and Irving played together only once, on Feb. 10 against OKC, leading to Dallas' 146-111 home victory. This tied the Thunder's biggest loss of the season.
Doncic had 32 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds in this big game. Irving had 25 points, eight assists, and six rebounds.
“We can only (learn a lot) from one game,” Daino said of playing Doncic and Irving. “So we have to step back from the film and watch the other teams defend them and watch the different coverages and how different teams attack. But if you always As we do, we're going to learn a lot in the series.”
“We'll prepare as best we can for Game 1, but the series will unfold from there.”
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Defensively, Dallas is also different from the teams OKC faced in the regular season.
By the Feb. 8 trade deadline, the Mavericks ranked last in the NBA in opponent field goal percentage at the rim (70.6%). However, they addressed that problem with two important enhancements.
Dallas sent Richaun Holmes and a 2024 first-round pick (via OKC) to Washington in exchange for Daniel Gafford. He also sent Grant Williams, Seth Curry and a 2027 first-round pick to Charlotte for P.J. Washington, and two second-round picks in 2024 and 2028 to Charlotte.
The additions of Gafford and Washington greatly improved Dallas' interior defense. In April, they ranked first in opponent field goal success rate (55.8%) at the rim.
Dallas also held Los Angeles to fewer than 100 points in three of six games in the first round series.
“After the trade deadline, I thought it changed their team a lot,” Daigneault said. “Gafford and (Derek Lively II) are obviously really good at the rim, but they're also really good at transitioning. … Washington gives them a very versatile wing defender who can play a little bit. He's going to guard the big guys, especially against us.
“They're a really good team. There's a reason they're here now.”
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But Dallas hasn't just changed for the better since the regular season.
The Mavericks announced Sunday that Maxi Kleber suffered an avulsion of the AC joint in his right shoulder. The 32-year-old forward will be re-evaluated in three weeks.
Kleber averaged 5.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in 19.3 minutes per game during the Dallas-Los Angeles series. The Mavericks will feel his absence and will rely on him for floor space in the frontcourt.
“The five-man picking and popping definitely changed their look in the frontcourt,” Daino said of Kleber's injury. “It limits the ability to do some of those things, but we're not considering anything. … Anyone who plays (20) minutes per game in a playoff series is a critical He's a player, so we're not going to deny that he's a significant loss for them. ”
Dallas isn't the only team in this series that has changed over the course of the season.
OKC began the season as the second-youngest team in the league and improved with each game as they clinched the top seed in the Western Conference. With an overwhelming victory over New Orleans, they will enter the second round with momentum.
Dallas will present an even bigger test. But Daigneault and his staff are working to prepare for any challenges OKC may face.
“It's our job to overprepare and overthink,” Daigneault said. “We don't want to push that on our players and make them think instead of play. It's always a delicate balance. I thought we struck a good balance with them in the New Orleans series, and we as a staff have to try to replicate that.” That's it.
“But we also need to be prepared for everything so that we have our pivot point and are ready for everything they might throw at us if they pivot. ”
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