GAME 5 Playoffs 2024: Dallas Mavericks (2-2) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (2-2)

[Winter]

Rewatching the game, I noticed how hot the Clips started and, with the scrubs in, finished the game. It surprised me, given their dismal shooting for the game. So I went to the play by play and added em up. Here’s what I found:

In the opening 9 minutes, Clips shot 10/14 (3/4 from deep) and scored 23 points. In the closing 7:30, after Harden and PG were done for the evening, the scrubs shot 8/13 (3/5 from deep), scoring 21.

In the intervening 31:30, the home team could not buy a bucket. They shot 15/60 from the field and 3/26 from deep, scoring 49. That’s not dismal shooting. That’s historically bad.

The other thing I noticed was how PG seemed to show something at the end of Q3 right after DJJ picked up his third foul and sat for a stretch of 2:43. In the 4 possessions during that stretch, PG hit 2 contested 3s and assisted Powell for a third, the only 3s of the evening for either player in 12 attempts, and the only ones in between the opening and closing minutes noted above.

Frankly, this makes me doubt my Dirkie vote for Maxi.

It's a bit sad in a way how little DJJ is talked about. We talk about him here, and just today I heard a couple of shout-outs from the media.... but really, outside of Luka and Kyrie, DJJ may actually have the most impact on a game than any other Mavs player. 

In the playoffs, this may actually be magnified more because he will be guarding the other team's best player - and the spotlight will much greater. Maybe his name will get the attention it deserves if we move to play OKC.