Luka Doncic’s 35 points leads Mavericks to 123-93 win, 3-2 series lead over Clippers

Luka Doncic scored 20 of his 35 points in the second half and added 10 assists and seven rebounds, propelling the Dallas Mavericks to a 123-93 victory over the LA Clippers in Game 5 on Wednesday night and a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.

Maxi Kleber hit five 3-pointers and Kyrie Irving added 14 points for the Mavericks, who clamped down on the Clippers defensively and won decisively in Los Angeles for the second time in the series. Dallas moved to the brink of its first playoff series victory since 2022 and only its third since winning the NBA title in 2011.

Doncic is playing on a sprained right knee that limited him at times in the series, but the Slovenian superstar clearly got more comfortable and more dangerous as Game 5 went on. He had 14 points in the third quarter while the Mavs stretched their lead to 25 and eventually took an 89-69 advantage into the fourth, where the Clippers never threatened to do an imitation of Dallas’ rally back from a 31-point deficit in Game 4.

Game 6 is Friday night in Dallas. If necessary, Game 7 will be back in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Paul George and Ivica Zubac scored 15 points apiece for the Clippers, who played their second straight game and third of the series without Kawhi Leonard. LA’s leading scorer has right knee inflammation at the most critical point in the season, and his teammates were unable to win without him in Game 5 after doing it twice earlier in the series.

Leonard’s fellow stars couldn’t step up in Game 5, and Dallas’ defense deserved much of the credit.

George went 4 for 13 and missed four of his six 3-point attempts, failing to assert himself offensively except during a brief stretch of the third quarter.

Harden had another perplexing playoff performance, going 2 for 12 and missing six of his seven 3s. Russell Westbrook also struggled off the bench, missing his first eight shots before finally scoring in the third quarter.

Both teams pulled their starters midway through the fourth quarter, grabbing rest for the potential closeout in Dallas.

Although Doncic and Irving each missed their first three 3-point attempts in the first half of Game 5, the Mavs jumped to a 10-point halftime lead. Dallas got 12 first-half points from Kleber, the German shooter who famously hit a buzzer-beating 3 in this building to beat the Lakers just over a year ago.

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George and Harden both struggled with their shots under Dallas’ signature defensive pressure early, but the Clippers’ supporting cast kept it close. Zubac, the Clippers’ veteran center, had yet another unusually big offensive game against the Mavs, scoring 13 points in the first half while making his first six shots, while Terance Mann added 11 points before getting shut out in the second half.

Doncic scorched the Clips for 14 points in the third quarter, stretching Dallas’ lead to 23 points during a 17-2 run. Los Angeles missed nine consecutive shots and committed four turnovers during the 6:23 between their first and second baskets of the second half.

Leonard missed the Clippers’ victories in Games 1 and 4, but played haltingly in LA’s losses in the second and third games of the series. The results weren’t incredibly surprising: Although Leonard had been mostly healthy this year until missing the final eight games of the regular season, the two-time NBA champion’s frequent injuries over the years have left his teammates comfortable playing without him.

But nothing worked in Game 5, leaving the Clippers facing the possibility that it was their last as the home team at the downtown Los Angeles arena they share with the lakers. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer’s palatial Intuit Dome opens next season in Inglewood.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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