Clippers give up 31-point lead, but still knot series with Mavericks at 2-2

Paul George and James Harden each scored 33 points and the Los Angeles Clippers rallied after coughing up a 31-point lead for a 116-111 road win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 4, evening their Western Conference first-round playoff series on Sunday, April 28 (Monday, April 29, Manila time).

Harden, who scored 13 points down the stretch, began his late-game flurry with 4:39 remaining when he scored the first of his three straight baskets in the paint that broke a 98-98 tie.

Kyrie Irving answered with a three-pointer and a layup to give Dallas a 105-104 lead with 2:15 remaining. But George made sure that lead didn’t last long, answering with a three-pointer to give the Clippers a 107-105 advantage with 1:55 left. Los Angeles didn’t relinquish the lead after that.

The series, which is tied 2-2, heads back to Los Angeles for Wednesday’s Game 5.

“It was all-or-nothing for us,” Harden said. “(George) didn’t have a good game (in Game 3) so we wanted to come out and be aggressive and score the basketball, and that’s what he did.”

Luka Doncic finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in the loss. Irving scored a game-high 40 points on 14-of-25 shooting from the floor, including 6-of-12 from three-point range. The rest of the Mavericks shot only 5-of-21 from deep, including 1-of-9 from Doncic.

“He did everything he could,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said of Doncic, whose struggles shooting from outside came amid knee soreness. “As far as (Doncic’s) health, you’d have to ask him. But I thought he competed on both ends, put us in position again to take the lead there in the fourth.”

Los Angeles went on a 32-8 run over the final 7:47 of the first quarter. The Clippers opened a 31-point lead thanks to a 16-8 spurt over the first 6:17 of the second quarter, but the Mavericks wasted little time beginning their rally.

Dallas trimmed the deficit to 17 by halftime, then held Los Angeles to 16 third-quarter points to pull within four points going into the fourth. The Clippers pushed the lead back to 11 points midway through the final period before a 19-7 Mavericks run.

Los Angeles finished 18-of-29 from beyond the arc. Harden was 4-of-5, while Terance Mann, who scored 11 points, went 3-of-6 from outside. Norman Powell added another 11 points off the bench and shot 3-of-5 on three-point attempts.

With the win, the Clippers improved to 2-0 in the series without Kawhi Leonard. He missed Game 4 due to knee inflammation.

Sunday’s contest was the series’ first in which both teams scored 100-plus points. – Rappler.com