On Wednesday, the Dallas Mavericks played the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center for Game Five of the series. The Mavericks look to get back on track and prevent the Clippers from taking a lead in the series. The team that becomes victorious in this matchup would be just one win away from advancing to the next round in the playoffs while the other would be facing elimination.

On Sunday, the Dallas Mavericks played the Los Angeles Clippers at the American Airlines Center in Game Four of the series. The Mavericks started this game by getting off to a slow start as this is the first instance where the Mavericks have gotten off to a slow start in the opening minutes during the series. It would not get any better as the Mavericks collapse carried on into the rest of the game with their offense massively struggling to get some shots to go down. The Clippers used their red-hot start to finish the first half with a 61-45 lead at halftime. The game would be over from there as the Mavericks simply had no answer to stop the Clippers. The Clippers were able to finish off the Mavericks by claiming a 106-81 win. Luka Doncic finished the game with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists in the losing effort. The Mavericks got a better performance from Kristaps Porzingis as he finished with 18 points but it wasn’t even near enough for a win. With the loss, the Mavericks couldn’t grab the third win in the series , as they now allowed the series to be tied at 2-2. That was arguably one of the worst performances by the Mavericks this season, as they couldn’t play basketball at all by looking like they had their talents stolen from them. The Mavericks will go back to the drawing boards to come up with a game plan that stops the Clippers from claiming the series. The last time the Mavericks opened a playoff series with two straight wins and then dropped Games 3 and 4 was against the Portland Trail Blazers in 2011, which the Mavericks went on to win Games 5 and 6 to win the series. You can say that the Mavericks (as a franchise) have been through this before and they have the coach in Rick Carlisle that can pull it off as he’s already done it ten years ago and will need to do it again in this series. Game Five is extremely important for both teams as whoever comes out victorious will need just one more win to advance to the next round in the playoffs, while the other will have their season on the line. In NBA Playoff history, when the series is tied at 2-2, the winner of Game Five has gone on to win the series 82.5% of the time.

The Los Angeles Clippers are coming into this game by coming off a 106-81 blowout win against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday to tie the series at 2-2. The Clippers are coming into this season with high hopes of trying to make a deep run in the playoffs as they were able to comeback and get the series tied against the Mavericks. This team is led by Kawhi Leonard as they look to finish off the comeback and eliminate the Mavericks in the playoffs for the second consecutive season. If their current trend continues, they will have good odds to advance to the next round in the playoffs. The Clippers did a good job of responding to being down 0-2 by generating back-to-back wins to get the series tied, now comes the tough part which is closing out the series. The Clippers have the Mavericks right where they want them as the Clippers head back home with momentum and control of the series, but don’t write off the Mavericks just yet because they are still a dangerous team to beat in a series. Luckily, for the Mavericks is that they just had one extremely bad game and they call it a SERIES because it’s a best to four wins not just one and the Mavericks still have plenty of reasons for why they can beat the Clippers with no one being in jeopardy of being eliminated just yet. So far in the series is nobody can win at home with both the Mavericks and Clippers coming up winless in their home court, and the Mavericks look to continue that streak going by trying to come out victorious on the road. This series has certainly lived up to its hype so far with both teams competing extremely hard in every game.

The Mavericks started this game by having JJ Redick (right Achilles injury) be ruled out while Luka Doncic (cervical strain) and Maxi Kleber (right Achilles soreness) will be available to play in this game. As a result, the Mavericks went with Doncic, Hardaway Jr, Marjanovic, Finney-Smith and Porzingis as their starting five in this game. The Mavericks have decided to adjust their starting five as a result of trying to get some rim protection on defense to prevent the Clippers from attacking the paint. The first points in the game would belong to Tim Hardaway Jr as he was able to draw a foul to go to the free-throw line, where he would nail two free-throws for the Mavericks to get this game underway. The Mavericks would extend their lead to seven points after Luka Doncic knocked down a step-back three pointer to extend their lead to 7-0 with 9:45 left in the quarter as the Clippers were still seeking their first points in the game. The Clippers wouldn’t get their first points until the 9:20 mark as Marcus Morris drilled a three pointer to come within 7-3 of the Mavericks. The Clippers were able to come within three points of the Mavericks after Paul George knocked down a three pointer to come within 9-6 of the Mavericks with 8:14 left in the quarter. The game found its way to be tied after Reggie Jackson knocked down a three pointer to tie the game at 9-9 with 7:19 left in the quarter. The Mavericks would untie the game after the Mavericks went on a quick 5-0 run that saw Dorian Finney-Smith knock down a three pointer to take a 14-9 lead that forced the Clippers to call timeout with 6:36 left in the quarter. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the game by making five of their first ten attempts while the Clippers made just three of their first ten attempts taken thus far. This game was going how Game One of the series went by having the Mavericks get off to a tremendous start by knocking down shots on offense while the Clippers were having a tough time getting their offense going. The Mavericks looked good in the opening minutes of the game by creating some good quality shots on offense and playing good defense thus far as their “Big” lineup was working for them by preventing the Clippers to score points in the paint. Coming out of the timeout, the Clippers turned to Paul George as he was able to convert on a three pointer to come within 14-12 of the Mavericks with 6:04 left in the quarter. Paul George was the only player on the Clippers that was delivering for them on offense as he has gotten the majority of the points for them. The Clippers would grab their first lead in the game after Reggie Jackson knocked down a jump shot to take a 17-16 lead with 5:14 left in the quarter. The Mavericks would answer by retaking the lead again after Luka Doncic knocked down a beautiful jump shot to reclaim the lead at 18-17 with 4:53 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to maintain the lead and take a 35-28 lead into the second quarter. The game leading scorer after one quarter of play would belong to Luka Doncic as he scored 19 points for the Mavericks. The Clippers were led by Paul George as he scored 9 points. The quarter belonged to the Mavericks as they were able to get things going while the Clippers (other than Paul George) had a tough time getting in rhythm. At the end of the first quarter, the Mavericks were shooting 57.1% on 12-of-21 shooting from the field. The Mavericks looked very good as their offense was flowing very smooth by having Luka Doncic be the “Luka Doncic” that we have all been accustomed to seeing. The neck of Luka Doncic looked like it was certainly not bothering him in the first quarter as he knocking down shots all over the court which was a good thing to see. The Mavericks decision to go “Big” was working tremendously as it was able to prevent the Clippers from driving to the paint for “easy” points. When the Mavericks are clicking (as it was the case in the first quarter) they are tremendously dangerous and a tough team to beat. The hope is, can the Mavericks be consistent and do this for the reminder of the game without running out of gas. Just a friendly reminder that so far in this series, the road team have been the ones that are having good games as it was the case right here. No home team has won a single game in the series thus far and the Mavericks are looking to keep it that way.

The second quarter would begin by having Paul George draw a foul to go to the free-throw line, which he would nail two free-throws for the Clippers to get this quarter underway. The Clippers would cut their deficit to one point after Nicolas Batum knocked down two free-throws to come within 35-34 of the Mavericks with 10:09 left in the quarter. Bad news would happen for the Mavericks as Kristaps Porzingis found himself to be in early foul trouble by picking up three quick fouls in the game thus far as he was having a difficult time knocking down shots on offense. The Mavericks wouldn’t get their first points in the quarter until the 9:53 mark as Dwight Powell nailed a slam dunk to extend their lead to 37-34. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 9:04 left in the quarter after the Clippers trimmed down their lead to 37-36. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making just one of their first six attempts while the Clippers made two of their first seven attempts taken thus far. The Mavericks started to have trouble in the opening minutes of the quarter as they had a difficult time getting their offense flowing as they couldn’t get a shot to go down while the Clippers started to inch closer by settling down and get some good shots on offense to get themselves back in the game. The Clippers were able to generate a 8-2 run to open the quarter. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Tim Hardaway Jr as he was able to convert on a three pointer to extend their lead to 40-36 with 8:48 left in the quarter. Luka Doncic came in the game and good things happen when he’s on the court as it was the case here by finding Tim Hardaway Jr for a wide open three pointer to keep control of the game thus far. A big problem that the Mavericks had going in the quarter was they couldn’t stop fouling as they already picked up their fifth team foul in the quarter which allowed the Clippers to be in the “Bonus” for the reminder of 8:03 in the quarter in which Nicolas Batum would draw a foul to go to the free-throw line where he would nail two free-throws to come within 40-38 of the Mavericks. The Mavericks would extend their lead to four points after Luka Doncic knocked down a driving floating jump shot to extend their lead to 46-42 with 6:32 left in the quarter. The game would find its way to be tied after Kawhi Leonard knocked down a jump shot to get the game tied at 46-46 with 5:32 left in the quarter. The Mavericks would get the game untied by having Luka Doncic draw a foul to go to the free-throw line as he took a hard fall on that bad “shoulder/neck” area but would nail two free-throws to take a 48-46 lead with 5:15 left in the quarter. The Clippers were able to trim their deficit to one point after Marcus Morris knocked down two free-throws to come within 49-48 of the Mavericks with 4:06 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to barely maintain control of the lead and take a 56-54 lead into halftime. The game leading scorer after two quarters of play would belong to Luka Doncic as he scored 27 points for the Mavericks. The Clippers were led by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as they both scored 11 points. The quarter would belong to the Clippers as they were able to inch closer and closer to the Mavericks by getting their offense to flow but it was the Mavericks closing out the quarter just a little bit better. At the end of the first half, the Mavericks were shooting 47.6% on 20-of-42 shooting from the field. The Mavericks would need the rest of the team to produce on offense in the second half as Luka Doncic scored 27 points while the rest of the team scored 29 points COMBINED through two quarters of play. The 27 points by Luka Doncic would a career-high for the most points scored in a first half in his playoff career. The decision to go “BIG” was working for the Mavericks as they forced the Clippers to take shots outside the paint, which the Clippers had a tough time knocking down. It seemed like every time the Mavericks took Boban Marjanoivc out of the game, the Clippers responded by attacking the paint and being aggressive but when the Mavericks put Boban back on the court, the Clippers shied away from attacking the paint. Through the first two quarters of the game, the Mavericks had the advantage as they were the ones dictating the control by having their offense flowing while preventing the Clippers from taking “easy” shots. The Mavericks keys to finishing the game with a victory in the second half would be having their other guys step up on offense and PROTECT THE PAINT as they can’t allow the Clippers to dominate the paint. If the Mavericks could follow that formula then they would be in good shape to leave the arena with a win.

Coming out of the half, the Mavericks were able to get on the board first in the third quarter by having Boban Marjanovic draw a foul to go to the free-throw line, which he would nail two free-throws to get this quarter underway. Paul George was able to score the first points in the quarter for the Clippers as he nailed a driving layup with 11:04 left in the quarter to come within 58-56 of the Mavericks. The game would find its way to be tied after Reggie Jackson knocked down a three pointer for the Clippers to get the game tied at 59-59 with 10:40 left in the quarter. The Clippers would grab the lead after Reggie Jackson knocked down another three pointer to take a 62-59 lead with 10:01 left in the quarter. The Mavericks were able to respond by having Dorian Finney-Smith knock down a three pointer to get the game tied again at 62-62 with 9:41 left in the quarter. The Clippers were having a three point fest as Marcus Morris knocked down another three pointer to take a 65-62 lead with 8:36 left in the quarter. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 8:06 left in the quarter after the Clippers extended their lead to five points at 67-62 which was their largest lead in the game thus far. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making just one of their first four attempts while the Clippers made five of their first nine attempts taken thus far. The Clippers were able to get off to a hot start in the opening minutes of the quarter as their offense started to cook while the Mavericks had a tough time getting a single shot to go down. The Clippers were able to finally hit their shots outside the paint as the Mavericks allowed them to take those shots by guarding the paint extremely well. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Boban Marjanovic but couldn’t convert as the Clippers forced a jump ball, which the Mavericks won and turned to Luka Doncic as he was able to convert by drawing a foul and that resulted in a Luka Doncic getting fouled while knocking down the layup but he would miss the “AND-ONE” free-throw that kept the Mavericks deficit at 67-64 with 7:21 left in the quarter. That was a extremely long possession for the Mavericks and luckily they were able to get some points off of it to come out of the timeout. The Mavericks were able to draw a foul on Paul George to give him four personal fouls on him as he went to sit on the bench with 6:32 left in the quarter with the Clippers leading 70-67. Both teams were competing extremely hard in the opening minutes of the quarter as they were playing tough defense to make it extremely difficult for the other team to knock down a shot. The Clippers would call a timeout with 4:49 left in the quarter after the Mavericks kept their deficit at three points after Luka Doncic knocked down a jump shot to come within 72-69 of the Clippers. This quarter was filled with defense and lots of it as both teams were making it difficult to get shots to go down on the other. The Mavericks are fortunate that their deficit is three points as the Clippers had a chance to create some separation but couldn’t get it done. The Mavericks need their offense to wake up and get back in the groove to retake control of the game and this quarter. Coming out of the timeout, the Clippers turned to Ivica Zubac but couldn’t convert as he lost the ball that resulted in a turnover that kept the score at 72-69 with 4:27 left in the quarter. The Mavericks took advantage of the Clippers miscues as they were able to reclaim the lead after Tim Hardaway Jr knocked down a jump shot to take the lead at 73-72 with 4:05 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to maintain control of the lead and take a 89-75 lead into the fourth quarter. The game leading scorer after three quarters of play would belong to Luka Doncic as he scored 40 points for the Mavericks. The Clippers were led by Reggie Jackson as he scored 17 points. The quarter belonged to the Clippers but the Mavericks were the ones that finished the quarter strong. Through three quarters of play, the Mavericks were shooting 47.8% on 32-of-67 shooting from the field. Boy, the Clippers looked like they were on the verge of running away with it until the Mavericks generated a huge spark in the final minutes of the quarter to flip the momentum to their side. The Clippers looked to be out of gas as they had no energy left in them which allowed the Mavericks to grab control in the final minutes of the quarter. The Mavericks finished the quarter on a 16-0 run as they were able to get their offense in rhythm. Here we are, we made it to this point in the game and we are just 12:00 minutes away from deciding a winner to grab control and the lead in this series and be one win away from advancing to the next round in the playoffs. Do the Mavericks have enough gas in the tank to take this to the finish line with a win? We are about to find out!

The fourth quarter would begin by having Tim Hardaway Jr nail a jump shot for the Mavericks to get this quarter underway. The Clippers weren’t able to get their first points in the quarter until the 11:27 mark by having Paul George nail a driving floating jump shot to come within 91-77 of the Mavericks. The Clippers were able to trim their deficit to 10 points after Paul George knocked down two free-throws to come within 91-81 of the Mavericks with 9:41 left in the game. The Mavericks were able to extend their lead back to 12 points after Jalen Brunson knocked down a jump shot to extend their lead to 93-81 with 9:22 left in the game. The Clippers once again, were able to trim their deficit down to ten points after Nicolas Batum knocked down a slam dunk to come within 93-83 of the Mavericks with 8:57 left in the game. Both teams were just answering each other’s shots which benefits the Mavericks because they have lead and allowed to milk some clock in the quarter. The Clippers were able to trim their deficit to eight points after Paul George drew a foul to go to the free-throw line, where he would make two free-throws to come within 93-85 of the Mavericks with 7:55 left in the game. There was still plenty of time left for the Clippers to draw something up to get themselves back in the game. The Clippers would call a timeout with 6:57 left in the game after the Mavericks were able to take a 93-85 lead. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making just two of their first eleven attempts while the Clippers made three of their first five attempts taken thus far. The Mavericks were holding on as they were relying heavily on their defense to finish out the game with their offense being absent thus far in the quarter. The Clippers still had reasons to have hopes as it was just a eight point deficit with 6:57 left in the game which feels like an eternity. The Mavericks look to continue to play tough defense and protect the paints in hopes as that’s enough to prevent the Clippers from grabbing control of the game. Coming out of the timeout, the Clippers turned to Paul George as he was able to convert on a jump shot to come within 93-87 of the Mavericks with 6:34 left in the game. The Mavericks were continuing to allow the Clippers life as the Clippers were starting to get their offense back in rhythm. The Clippers were able to trim their deficit to four points after the Mavericks fouled which allowed the Clippers to be in the bonus for the reminder of 5:51 the game and it allowed Kawhi Leonard to knock down two free-throws to come with 93-89 of the Mavericks with 5:51 left in the game. The Mavericks responded by turning to Luka Doncic as he knocked down a jump shot to extend their lead back to six points at 95-89 with 5:34 left in the game. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 4:04 left in the game after the Clippers were able to cut the Mavericks’ lead down to four points again at 95-91. Prior to this timeout, the Clippers were able to generate a 6-2 run to get themselves with four points of the Mavericks. The Mavericks hope that their offense still had some gas in the tank as they would need their offense to finish the game with the game starting to get closer and closer with the result of the Clippers getting their offense in rhythm. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Luka Doncic but couldn’t convert as he missed a huge jump shot that kept the score at 95-91 with 3:52 left in the game. OH MY GOODNESS!!! THE MAVERICKS WOULD EXTEND THEIR LEAD TO SEVEN POINTS AFTER TIM HARDAWAY JR KNOCKED DOWN A HUGE THREE POINTER TO EXTEND THEIR LEAD TO 98-91 WITH 2:50 LEFT IN THE GAME. The Mavericks defense was able to come up huge as they created some huge steals to give their offense life again. THE UNICORN DELIVERS!!! KRISTAPS PORZINGIS KNOCKED DOWN A THREE POINTER TO EXTEND THE MAVERICKS LEAD TO 101-91 THAT FORCED THE CLIPPERS TO CALL A TIMEOUT WITH 2:13 LEFT IN THE GAME. Coming out of the timeout, the Clippers turned to Reggie Jackson as he was able to convert on a three pointer to come within 101-94 of the Mavericks with 1:54 left in the game. The Clippers would trim their deficit back to four points after Marcus Morris knocked down a huge three pointer to come within 101-97 with 1:19 left in the game. The Clippers would be back in the game after Kawhi Leonard knocked down a driving layup while drawing a foul, where he would knock down the “AND-ONE” free-throw to come within 101-100 of the Mavericks with 39.5 seconds left in the game. OH MY GOODNESS!!! THE CLIPPERS HAD A CHANCE TO TAKE THE LEAD BUT COULDN’T GET A SHOT TO GO DOWN AND TIM HARDAWAY JR GRABBED THE CRUCIAL REBOUND AND ONCE AGAIN THE MAVERICKS DEFENSE COMES UP HUGE!!!!. The Clippers would intentionally foul Tim Hardaway Jr to send hits to the free-throw line, where he would nail two free-throws to extend the Mavericks lead to 103-100 as the Clippers called timeout with 8.8 seconds left in the game. The Mavericks need one more stop on defense while the Clippers need a tree pointer to send the game to overtime. What a game this has been thus far with both teams competing hard. Coming out of the timeout, the Clippers turned to Kawhi Leonard but couldn’t convert as he AIR-BALLED A THREE POINTER THAT KEPT THE SCORE AT 103-100 WITH JOSH RICHARDSON GRABBING THE REBOUND AND WAS FOULED WITH 4.4 SECONDS LEFT IN THE GAME TO GO TO THE FREE-THROW LINE. Josh Richardson would knock down two free-throws to extend the Mavericks lead to 105-100 with 4.4 seconds left in the game.

This team looked like they came up with a good game plan as they decided to go “Big” by starting Boban Marjanovic and it was working by refusing the Clippers to drive to the paint to get “easy” points. The Mavericks were in control for the majority of the first half until the Clippers used a late run in the final minutes of the second quarter to be within 56-54 of the Mavericks at halftime. This was a crucial game for both teams as the winner of the game would be one win away from advancing to the next round in the playoffs while the other would have their season be in jeopardy.

In the end, it was the Dallas Mavericks defeating the Los Angeles Clippers 105-100 . Luka Doncic finished the game with 42 points, 8 rebounds and 14 assists in the huge win. The Clippers were led by Paul George as he finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds. The Mavericks got production from Tim Hardaway Jr as he finished with 20 points and 7 rebounds for the win. With the win, the Mavericks retake control of the series as they once again have the series lead at 3-2. The Mavericks relied heavily on their defense by going “BIG” and it worked out just enough to take a 3-2 series lead and be one win away from advancing to the next round in the playoffs. The Clippers did everything they could to generate a win but it wasn’t enough as their season is now in jeopardy as they are one more loss away from grabbing movie tickets to be able to watch Space Jam 2 on the couch or they could continue to watch the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs.

The Mavericks will come back home to play the Los Angeles Clippers at the American Airlines Center on Friday for Game Six in the series as they hold a 3-2 series lead.