Dallas Mavericks: 3 reasons the Clippers will soon say “1, 2, 3….Cancun!”

3. Making things tough on D

During the regular season, the Mavs were ranked 18th (111.7) in defensive efficiency, but they have flipped the switch and hit another gear in the playoffs.

According to Jared Dubin of Last Night, In Basketball, prior to the start of game four, Dallas’ Maxi Kleber is holding Kawhi Leonard to his third-lowest effective field goal percentage at just 41.4 percent.

This is shocking to the naked eye because when you view the games and see Leonard’s numbers, you could easily come to the conclusion that Kleber is getting cooked. But to Kleber’s credit, he is making Leonard work for absolutely everything. And still getting beat.

Leonard is averaging 33.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in the series. One would think you’d want to shift Dorian Finney-Smith to the assignment of guarding Leonard, but by the numbers, he actually does much worse on Leonard than Kleber.

Aside from Leonard being great, which was expected, and Lou Williams, the Mavs are holding everyone else in check.

The Mavs compiled their largest comeback win in a playoff game in franchise history as they erased a 21-point deficit on Sunday night. Their previous largest postseason comeback win was 19 points in Game 5 of the 2003 Western Conference Finals in San Antonio.

Scoring in the playoffs has elevated so the defensive rating scale is a bit different from the regular season. Their defensive rating in the playoffs is 116.7, which however is not outstanding, it’s better than might be expected against a vaunted Clippers offense. They’re not getting kicked in the teeth. They taken some tough blows and seen some ugly deficits, but have weathered the storm and ultimately have the momentum in the series.