Diminished by his knee, Luka Doncic remains on a 4/23 from afar in the last two games against the Clippers. Frustrated, the Slovenian even has the impression of ” to drop “ Kyrie Irving in this series…
“It’s his opinion but he does everything he can for his teammates” tempers Jason Kidd for the club's official website. “It’s his opinion, and we respect it. But he doesn't let anyone down. He plays, he will make shots and miss others. It's just part of basketball. But we firmly believe that at the end of the day, he will do what he has to do, and that we have a chance to win Game 5 away.”
Especially since with two victories everywhere, this Game 5 is necessarily decisive, by offering a key advantage to the winner.
In the history of the playoffs, the winner of Game 5, in a series that was 2-2, has won the series 81.7% of the time, with 188 final victories for 42 defeats.
“Often, in a series, these are swing matches” confirms Jason Kidd. “A lot of people look at Games 3 and 5 as the “see-saw matches.” Especially away from home, it’s really a key match. The winner takes control of the series. So we're going to have to find a way to win away. »
Better “spacing” to open up shots for him?
Losing this Game 5, for the Mavericks, would mean having to win Game 6 at home straight away, then Game 7 in Los Angeles, to qualify for the conference semi-finals.
So the best option is to take it away the next night. But for that, we will need a more skillful Luka Doncic.
“They send a lot of people on him, to make him work, to prevent him from shooting from distance or sending his lobs. He must therefore try to score more and be aggressive to set the tone from the start.” explains the coach.
The Mavericks cannot afford to fall back 31 points, like in Game 4, with Luka Doncic making a series of failures behind the 3-point line, in isolation…
“We can try to offer him better spacing” also concludes PJ Washington. “We didn't give him enough good options, which led to him taking difficult shots against several players. »
