Getty Luka Doncic, Mavs
Even with the Clippers’ win in Game 3, the team was still facing a bit of desperation in Game 4, trying to avoid a 3-1 hole against the Mavericks in Dallas. With that in mind, coach Ty Lue made a surprising change: He removed center Ivica Zubac from the lineup and went with a pure small-ball starting five, inserting 6-foot-8 wing Nic Batum in his place.
It worked, brilliantly, as Batum proved effective on the defensive end and chipped in 10 points, helping the Clippers build a lead that ballooned to 18 points by 7:44 of the second quarter.
But just as the performance by Batum and the Clippers loomed as a problem for the Mavericks, the bigger trouble seems to be the aching neck of Mavs star Luka Doncic. After brilliant performances in the first three games (38.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 9.0 assists), the Clippers shut down Doncic in Game 3, as he went 9-for-24 shooting for 19 points, with six assists and four turnovers.
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Luka Doncic makes no excuses as Dallas left to hope pain gets “substantially better”.
Grimacing at times and grabbing his neck at others, the 22-year-old star was 9 of 24 with series lows in rebounds and assists with six apiece.
After the game, Doncic was not leaning on the injury as an excuse.
“I don’t think that matters right now,” he said. “We lost by 20. And the injuries are part of basketball, but I was 100 percent. So — but I played terrible. So just gotta move on to the next one.”
Batum Sought Inspiration From Diaw, Draymond
The next one will come Wednesday, as the Clippers look to control the series with a Game 5 win. Given the success the Clippers had in stifling Doncic and the Mavs in Game 4, expect Batum to start again.
“Want to just try to wear Luka down, let him play one-on-one,” Lue said. “We try to keep his assists down because he dominates and controls the game, smart man, making guys better. But if we can come away with him only having six assists on the night, we did our job and that means he stayed at home or guys weren’t making shots. I thought we did a good job of shrinking the floor, showing him the crowd and beat up the dribble and our low man was there and exit out on the back side. You know, he’s a tough cover and we understand that. So you have to take away something. Take away his pressing ability and make him score as less as possible.”
Batum just making plays defensively. Also. Post entry passes.
Credit Batum for that. Without a center in the game, the Clippers relied on Batum to play like an undersize big man, drawing on inspiration from fellow Frenchman Boris Diaw and from Warriors star Draymond Green to do so. Because the Clippers were switching everything defensively in Game 4, Batum had to be ready for a variety of matchups.
“That’s why I call the video guys and I say, I need footage on Boris and Draymond Green, two of the best in the last ten years,” Batum said, “they are the two best at doing what I have to do, like those small center, they can be power forward and play one through five. That’s what I did yesterday. I watched video of Boris in 2014 and Draymond the last five years, and I tried to inspire myself from those two guys.”
Mavs Coach: Doncic is ‘In Pain’
It made things easier that Doncic was clearly not 100%, even if he did not want to concede that point. His coach, Rick Carlisle, was more open about what his star was going through.
“He’s in pain,” Carlisle said. “It appeared to me that he couldn’t turn left. Couldn’t look to his left. He couldn’t turn his neck to the left. And that’s difficult for a guy that relies on peripheral vision and basically has played his whole life with his head on a swivel.”
If the Mavs have an advantage in regrouping after these two losses, it is in the fact that Doncic has some time to get better. Doncic said he planned to ice the injury for the next two days and hope that is enough.
“We’ve got to hope in the next couple of days that he can get better — hopefully substantially better,” Carlisle said. “There’s a two-day break between games, which is a positive in this case. It’s a positive for both teams if you’ve got guys beat up and banged up, which I’m sure both teams do have at some level. But his neck issue certainly contributed to a 9-for-24 night and him having some real unusual struggles.”