NBA Playoffs: 3 things the Dallas Mavericks must continue after Game 2
By Drew Ivery
After tying their NBA playoffs series against the LA Clippers at 1-1, the Dallas Mavericks must continue these specific things to pull off the upset.
The Dallas Mavericks saw how the LA Clippers came out in Game 1 of the NBA playoffs and said “our turn,” giving the Clippers a taste of their own medicine. Dallas came out of the gate with a 15-2 run to begin the game, which helped ignite the fire that fueled their energy for the game and came up with a big win on Wednesday night.
Dallas changed the landscape of how the entire game was going to go when they forced Paul George into three first-quarter fouls. Those veteran-like plays defensively made all the difference forcing George into foul trouble so early.
Boban Marjanovic has been in the playoffs before and knows how important the win was.
"“It is a team sport,” Boban Marjanovic said in the postgame. “It is the playoffs right now and everybody has to give their best effort. Everybody who is in the game, my teammates, can play. It is a team sport, it is not about just one player, it is about the whole team. Everybody did a great job, I must be honest, I am so proud of my teammates.”"
This victory was the Dallas’ first playoff win since 2016.
Sending home the Clippers will be no easy feat, as this team knows. They know they cannot afford to make mistakes. If not for certain things that happened in game one like the large deficit at the start, Luka Doncic‘s five turnovers in the first quarter, and Kristaps Porzingis‘ ejection, Dallas could very well be up 2-0.
If the Mavs plan to take a 2-1 series lead, they must continue to do a few things in particular. My takeaways on game two: