The Mavericks will renew hostilities with the Clippers in the first round of play-offs. After the Dallas side’s win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, the post-season game was confirmed.
With Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in scintillating form, the match against the Los Angeles side promises to be a spectacle, but two former NBA stars have already dismissed the Clippers’ chances against the dominant Dallas. The duo in question are Paul Pierce and Gilbert Arenas, who are fully backing the Mavs supremacy.
Paul Pierce, Gilbert Arenas back Mavericks to win against Clippers
The most talented duo, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving received heaps of praise from Paul Pierce when the discussion about the playoff series came up. Hinting at the marvellous turnaround the franchise has shown post-All-Star break, the former Celtics star said that he believes the Mavs have a better chance over the Clippers because of their offensive as well as defensive supremacy.
Talking on “Undisputed”, PP called them the best-scoring duo. Paul Pierce stated, “You have a top-five player, an MVP candidate, and arguably the best player in the league [Luka Doncic]. You have experience, Kyrie [Irving’s] championship experience.”
Pierce is not the only one who believes in the Slovenian guard and his team. Former point guard Gilbert Arenas has also expressed his strong optimism about Luka. While speaking to Shannon Sharpe on “Nightcap”, Arenas reminded that the Mavs guard has a good record against the LA franchise for which they should be terrified to face him.
Arenas stated, “Luka [Doncic] owns them… I mean, [in the] last ten games alone, he’s averaged 37 against them. If the Clippers wanna get out of this series… I’m gonna throw a double at him. They can win four games and if they get to the second round, they can win one.”
Doncic has an average of 32.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 7.4 assists against the Clippers in the regular campaign, which becomes 33.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 9.5 assists per game in the post-season tournament. The immense support that the 25-year-old is receiving from his peers and former players could push him to the extremes to clinch another win against the Clippers.
Mavericks vs Clippers H2H record in playoffs
Despite the Mavericks dominating in the regular campaign, the Clippers have the upper hand when it comes to the playoff tournament. The two Western teams have come face-to-face in 13 games of the first round where the Los Angeles team have a 8-5 record.
In the first best-of-seven series (2020), it didn’t roll on to the seventh game as the Mavs could only win game 2 and game 4 recording a 2-4 loss. At the beginning of the series, both teams won alternatively but the Clippers dominated the Mavs in game 5 and 6 establishing their win.
However, the next year they came back stronger and won the first two games of the series. The Clippers caught them in Game 4 where the wins tied 2-2. The Mavericks took the lead in the following game but that didn’t stop the Clippers from winning the next game. The teams entered the seventh game with a 3-3 record which ended in the Clippers’ favor.
The teams will again face off against each other for a third occasion in the first round but this time the results could be different for the Mavericks considering the scoring beasts of a duo recently formed in Dallas.
