No NBA team has ever gone three games to zero. Not in the finals, not in the conference finals, not in the preliminary playoffs. So it would be almost a miracle if Luka Dončić’s Dallas Mavericks managed to eliminate the Golden State Warriors, who finished 3rd on Sunday night in the United States (early morning in Spain) after a 100-109 win over Dallas :0 scored.
The Golden State Warriors are the most regular team in the NBA over the past decade. Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thomson have won three rings together and reached two more finals, always with Steve Kerr as coach. If, as all the evidence suggests, they manage to beat Dallas, it would be their sixth Western Conference title in eight years, the previous five winning between 2015 and 2019 in a row. Of course, they haven’t won their conference in two years, or, whatever, without going to the NBA Finals against the Masters of the East.
In the first quarter he missed the shot from the three-point line. There was an endless string of back-to-back missed threes on both tires. And when the outside shot didn’t work, the Warriors had the upper hand with a much more powerful inside game.
However, Luka Dončić provided support for the team, including one of his stratospheric triples on the buzzer that left the first quarter just three points behind (22-25). The 23-year-old Slovenian was already the top scorer with 10 points.
The second quarter started with the usual breaks for Dončić and Curry, the stars of both teams. Dallas took better advantage of this and by the time the two returned to the court midway through the second quarter, the Mavericks had caught up with a very inspired Spencer Dinwiddie all game (he finished the whole game with 26 points) and a Brunson recovering from his placed goal with 5 points ahead (He closed the night with 20 points). With the Warriors, Thomson was off and Green seemed out of place. He even had a couple of clashes with the umpires where he seemed to pay for the faint that he saw nothing was going well for him.
Up to this point, Curry hasn’t had his best day either, but a low-key day from him is better than a good day from just about anyone. He is the highest three-pointer player in NBA history, although oddly enough, the highest win percentage is held by his own coach, Steve Kerr (five-time NBA champion as a player, three times with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, and two times with San Antonio spurs). . Two of his triples gave his team the lead again and he had 16 points to his personal tally. The break came 47-48 in favor of the San Francisco side.
Dončić finished the first half with 15 points and 7 rebounds. He didn’t feel well either. The Warriors’ defense made it difficult for them with consistent assists, knowing he’s always the Mavericks’ man to watch out for. And that seemed to affect his aim, as he also missed uncontested shots that he usually saves.
Things didn’t look good for Dallas in the third quarter. Green and Curry had some foul-loading, but the Golden State Warriors began to function as a fast, unstoppable team, moving the ball at full speed on offense and perfectly combining outside shooting with zone play. Curry kept control of the game, Kevon Looney and Andrew Wiggins dominated the rebound and Wiggins himself (27 points late in the game) and Thomson (19) added in offense.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd couldn’t come up with any solutions. His hometown team ran away. In desperation, he even deposed Dončić if the momentum of the second quarter repeated itself, but to no avail.
Doncic’s pride
The last quarter of the game was reached with a margin of 10 points in favor of the guests. Add to that the fact that the Warriors are the team that finishes games best, and there was no reason for optimism. In the second game, it was enough for the Californians to play well in the last quarter to win. This time it was enough for them not to spoil it. And they didn’t. Kerr even allowed himself to give Curry some rest. Dončić took his pride, fought to the end, scored (he finished with 41 points), prepared, rebounded, drew fouls on offense, but it wasn’t enough. Curry, back on the court, was responsible for setting the pace that interested him. At the end he gave a concert.
The San Francisco team strokes the NBA Finals. He has yet to win a match. Never before has a team trailing 0-3 been able to string four wins together to turn a draw. Even for Luka Dončić it seems like an impossible mission. All indications are that Dallas will have to keep waiting. They haven’t reached an NBA Finals since 2011, when they won the ring with current coach Jason Kidd as point guard and Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki as star. This Sunday, 33-year-old Curry’s 31 points overtook Nowitzki as the 11th player to have 30+ points in more playoff games in NBA history. He’s done it 46 times. Nowitzki lost another record yesterday: Luka Dončić is already the Dallas player who has surpassed 40 points in a tie the most times.
The Eastern Conference Finals (or whatever that other NBA semifinal is) sees its fourth game this Monday night after the Boston Celtics suffered a heavy loss on their parquet floor this Saturday to the Miami Heat, led by a strong Bam Adebayo . The tie is 2-1 in favor of Florida. This Tuesday is the fourth game of the western final. We’ll see if the last.
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