GAME 4 Playoffs 2024: Los Angeles Clippers (1-2) vs Dallas Mavericks (2-1)

[BolsDamols]

Had the game on delay and fast forwarded through most of the 1st half. Almost turned the game off before that Mavs run in the 3rd quarter.

Such a painful, painful loss..but we knew coming in that the series won't be easy. That shot by PG at the corner - thats the game right there, he misses that we probably win that game.

Playing Luka almost 48 mins..they are not doing him any favors asking to guard James Harden, especially with the 5 fouls and the knee. A big reason for playing him the entire game is we get absolutely nothing from Dante Exum, whose slow trigger caused him to pass up some open looks. Compare that say, to Norman Powell who is ready to shoot every time. Take Luka out and Mavs cannot stay afloat, regardless of him playing well  below is playoff standards.

Having said that, we won't win a playoff series where James Harden is outplaying Luka. Kyrie's brilliance won't be enough, we need Luka to be Luka. If we cant beat the Clippers with this team, we probably never will. We need him to show that he is the best player in this series, Mavs will go as far as Luka takes them. 

Its just the first round, but these next two games will either make or break his legacy. I have my doubts, but I hope he comes through.

[SwisherPrice]

The talent betwen both teams in this series is pretty close and it's not like Lue has them running an intricate system on offense. The Clippers may have a slightly better rotation but it's not like there's a huge gap compared to facing a team like the Celtics. Both the Mavs/Clippers are built around their great scorers and the shots that they can create. The only difference is that Lue knows when to get them organized to run a play and he also knows how to get the most out of his role players.

[The Jom]

Mavs were -15 in 3 minutes Luka didn't play! Doesn't matter how badly you think he played, Mavs are worse without him. Far worse

Agree and the reason seems obvious to me. Their defense changes to ultra, ultra aggressive and we can’t get a decent possession. Yes, they’re getting away with fouls. But Luka is the only one who can handle the ball and make passes while getting his arms hacked off. He must play. 48 minutes in game 5.

[The Jom]

I didn’t watch much of the big win streak at the end of the regular season but from a pure halfcourt offense centric point of view the starting unit is not something that I’d expect to work in the postseason. Just terrible shooters everywhere. Add an absurdly bad cold streak from Luka and you get what you’re currently seeing immediately after every tipoff.

I‘d do A LOT for a guy like McDermott right now. Doesn’t have to be a star, just someone who moves the ball well when he isn’t open and puts the ball into the basket when he is.

For instance: Exum is a big disappointment. If he keeps being invisible I’d cut him in the summer.

Whoa, there. You sure about that? Without Exum we’re the 7 seed playing Denver.

[Jym]

no MVP for Luka anytime soon if we end up blowing this series

[Scott41theMavs]

no MVP for Luka anytime soon if we end up blowing this series

If we fail to win this series, I first and foremost believe Kidd should (but probably won't) be fired, but Luka will shoulder quite a bit of the blame as well.

[Scott41theMavs]

from Imgflip Meme Generator

I mean, seriously. That should call for some soul searching by the entire team and staff.

[surfpuckmd]

This game was controlled and decided by the refs.  Putting Luka in foul trouble with touch fouls while allowing PG and Harden to get into rhythm by allowing them to push off to create space at will. 

This game was decided by inconsistent calls by the refs

The Clippers mostly won this game because of their blistering 3-point shooting.  

However, they do receive an advantage when Harden is able to push off as he drives and Paul George actually can throw his forearm up as he drives gladiator-style.  Those fouls are not called. 

Meanwhile, Luka seems to get bumped and grabbed on most drives into the lane.  That's why he's resorting to 3-point shooting.  It's hard to drive and finish in the lane when Terrance Mann or Westbrook are allowed to grab your arm.

[Luka77]

This team needs a Maxi replacement and third ball handler/scorer in the worst way.

Moreover, Luka needs to reduce the amount of three's he is taking this series and Kidd needs to put him on a limit a per game (like no more than 6 a game). He is shooting 26% from three point range, while taking an average of 12 per game this series. For reference, Kyrie is shooting it better and is still only averaging 8 per game.

Luka needs to work more in the post allow for the double and kick it open role players.

Allow the role players to take more of those shoots and maybe that opens up the floor for everyone else. Luka just doesn't have it from the three point line this series.

[Luka77]

The Clippers mostly won this game because of their blistering 3-point shooting.  

However, they do see receive an advantage when Harden is able to push off as he drives and Paul George actually can throw his forearm up as he drives gladiator-style.  Those fouls are not called. 

Meanwhile, Luka seems to get bumped and grabbed on most drives into the lane.  That's why he's resorting to 3-point shooting.  It's hard to drive and finish in the lane when Terrance Mann or Westbrook are allowed to grab your arm.  
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Yep, Watch how many times PG and Harden have been allowed to push off to create space this series.  That's the only way they are able to off those shots.  The refs allowed those guys to get into rhythm by allowing that type of play.  They finally started calling it in the fourth quarter but at that point it was too late.

[RGP1981]

This was a must-win game, it's a bad loss.

[SleepingHero]

I was unable to watch this one live. I was spoiled by a friend that I should get ready to be depressed. After just finishing the recording, well he wasn't wrong.

That first half was really one of the lowest points of basketball on the season. Only superseded probably by the 1st half of game 1. Mavs really couldn't buy a bucket. I was thinking the Mavs were about to be majorly embarrassed again. Then Kyrie Irving grabbed this entire team, put it on his back, and everyone else followed. The 3rd quarter gave me life. I was on the edge of my seat the whole game only to have my heart ripped out of me when they couldn't finish the job. 

Some thoughts:

• This was a game of being able to control emotions. Seeing the reffing crew, the Mavs should've known it'd be a foul fest. This was a prime time chance for Luka to show he had matured. Luka failed the test. He lost his cool and was mentally out of the game for entire quarters. His passion was there, but he played for the whistle instead of the win. Super unfortunate.
  
• Clippers still got an incredible whistle. I mean shit, basically every call that could've gone their way did (besides the obvious Zubac foul that was called out of bounds)
  
• Another point is deserved for how generous of a whistle the Clippers had gotten on the Mavs home court. This reffing crew made me disgusted. 
  
• Kyrie Irving had a game for the history books. Unfortunately it was a loss. If the Mavs won we'd look back at this game as a signature career game.
  
• All the role players shrunk again in the moment. PJ/Gafford/Green/Exum looked horrible. DJJ and Maxi had some moments. Lively was the only one that came ready to play and we barely saw him.
  
• Did I mention how bad Luka played? He's obviously hurt. He had a crazy 3 to tie the game in the 4th. But he was rattled by the Clippers this game. Or I should say that the refs threw him off his game so badly and the Clippers were allowed to be extra physical. He played into their game plan instead of rising above it. 
  
• Clippers had probably the best shooting game they'll ever have this playoffs. 18-29 from 3 is ridiculous. PG13 was on another level of on fire. Despite that the Mavs still made it a game. That kind of shooting performance results in a win 99% of the time. Its not like the Mavs didn't defend either. The Clippers got really hot.
  
• When is it our turn to have a good shooting performance? Hell can we please just have a league average shooting performance??? Like please give me 15-38 on 3s????? 
  
• *Editors note, taking out Luka's 1-9 shooting from 3, the Mavs shot 10-26 so we basically kind of had that already......
  
  

Seriously if the Mavs were ready they'd have won this game. They won the 2nd and 3rd quarter by a huge margin. They lost the 4th quarter by a single point. Out of 16 quarters of basketball, the Mavs have won 7, tied 2, and lost 7. This is with Luka playing literally the worst basketball of his career in the last 5 years. If Luka could just get out of this funk, get back to his 30ppg on 48/37/80 splits, and Kyrie/PJ/DJJ/Lively/Gafford keep doing exactly what they're doing, the Mavs are still looking good.

Unfortunately this loss has really made me question this teams mental. This isn't the first time the Mavs have been up against the Clippers only to lose to them. I remember being up 2-0, have a 20 point lead in game 3, and then the Mavs still lost the series. Point is, there is a history of Luka-led teams not going out there and taking it. I hope for my mental health that they show up Wednesday and are ready to play cause the depression I'd be in will be record breaking.

[Halfnir]

Luka did not play very good by his standards, but blaming him for the loss not fair. He had to overcome ice cold teammates, brutal defence being allowed a lot of contact while on the other hand being called for cheap fouls on marginal contact and a ridiculous tech. All while playing the most minutes of all players. He also was the only person scoring from the field in the first quarter, but for Gafford on a layup created by a Luka assist. Anything else was misses and free throws.

It's extremely hard mentally when the opponent shots over 60% on threes, many of them well defended and forced after 20s of good defence while you can't buy a bucket. Kudos to the Mavs team for staying in the game and chipping away at the deficit without the Clippers falling off much (Mavs were +22 from the 18th minute to the end of the game with the Clippers maintaining 50% shooting from the field and 61.5% from 3pt).

The reason we lost in the end for me was coaching (can not let Harden play 1-1 into floaters 2 times in a row) and the lucky 3pt corner dagger from George.

[HoosierDaddyKidd]

no MVP for Luka anytime soon if we end up blowing this series

It's going to be tough for him to win it this year, if they win the series or not.  Jokic and SGA are the front runners, with Jokic the odds-on favorite.

[Mavs2021]

After reading the report on game four by MacMahon, I´m even more upset about Kidd. He rode an hurt Luka for 45 minutes instead of game-planning for it. Only you can game-plan and draw up plays for the opening 4-5 minutes. Lue did not plan for a Luka-less Mavs. You are up 2-1. You play with house money. I would have started the game with Green and let Luka stay in the back, not even on the bench. Befuddle Lue and let the Clippers relax a bit. Let Kyrie cook with a faster offense to start the game. We have seen that work. See how it goes and then I´d have timed the big Luka entrance accordingly to go for the kill.

Even IF we need Kidd to keep Kyrie engaged and happy, why can´t we pay Terry Stotts 10M a year to humble himself to be our offensive coordinator. This is just Cuban being a cheap f*** as always. There is no salary cap on hiring (assistant) coaching excellence.

[Chicagojk]

Mavs were -15 in 3 minutes Luka didn't play! Doesn't matter how badly you think he played, Mavs are worse without him. Far worse

That is fair.  I am sure several of my in game posts come across pretty reactionary.  I still stand by a lot of them, but they are in the moment.

[Chicagojk]

A change I would like to see is for any missed shot by the Clippers the ball goes to Kyrie (or Exum/Green if he can stay on the court) and not Luka. Lets use both Kyrie and Exum to push the pace. Luka is struggling to push the pace now. Lets take that off his plate and have Kyrie and Exum take on that responsibility

[HoosierDaddyKidd]

A change I would like to see is for any missed shot by the Clippers the ball goes to Kyrie (or Exum/Green if he can stay on the court) and not Luka.  Lets use both Kyrie and Exum to push the pace.  Luka is struggling to push the pace now.    Lets take that off his plate and have Kyrie and Exum take on that responsibility

Exum hasn't played nearly as well as he did just a few weeks ago. He and Green are playing tentatively. He might have something going on health-wise as well. He doesn't look fresh, and he's getting THJ's minutes. Luka will NOT cede the ball handling to anybody. It always winds up back in his hands. Everyone says he needs to play off the ball more for the team's betterment, but he's unwilling and never had to.

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

Damn y'all. The series is tied. We just have to win 2 in 3 games. We got this.

[BigDirk41]

Luka did not play very good by his standards, but blaming him for the loss not fair. He had to overcome ice cold teammates, brutal defence being allowed a lot of contact while on the other hand being called for cheap fouls on marginal contact and a ridiculous tech. All while playing the most minutes of all players. He also was the only person scoring from the field in the first quarter, but for Gafford on a layup created by a Luka assist. Anything else was misses and free throws.

It's extremely hard mentally when the opponent shots over 60% on threes, many of them well defended and forced after 20s of good defence while you can't buy a bucket. Kudos to the Mavs team for staying in the game and chipping away at the deficit without the Clippers falling off much (Mavs were +22 from the 18th minute to the end of the game with the Clippers maintaining 50% shooting from the field and 61.5% from 3pt).

The reason we lost in the end for me was coaching (can not let Harden play 1-1 into floaters 2 times in a row) and the lucky 3pt corner dagger from George.

When the Bulls lost, it was MJ's fault. When the Celtics lost, it was Bird's fault. When the Lakers lost, it was Kobe's fault. This comes with the territory of being a generational talent. He doesn't get to pick and choose when he's blamed. It's on him all the time to get his team to win. He's already taking blame and saying he isn't helping Kyrie enough. It's only some fans trying to defend him. He isn't playing up to his standards and that's the difference in the series. If Luka is the best player the rest of this series, we 100% win. If he's not the best player, it's anyone's game. I'm with you on Kidd being a big culprit, but Luka can win this series on his own regardless of Kidd.