The Clippers had a chance to take control of their series with the Mavericks in Wednesday night’s Game 5 in Los Angeles, but instead they stunk up the joint in the second half and got blown out, 123-93, to fall behind 3-2 as the series shifts to Dallas for Friday night’s Game 6.
The Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard in Game 5, as he continues to deal with an injury to his right knee. Los Angeles had won the other two games in the series that Leonard had missed, which makes Wednesday night’s performance even harder for fans to understand.
Paul Pierce didn’t hold back on the Clippers on FS1’s Unidisputed, calling them a moody team.
The Clippers, who won Game 4 in Dallas without Leonard, will need to turn things completely around in Game 6 or their season could come to an abrupt end.
The Boston Celtics are on the verge of winning its 18th NBA Championship in franchise history, and Finals MVP is starting to take shape.
It appears to be a two-man race for Finals MVP, and through three games, Jaylen Brown appears to be ahead, fresh off an outstanding 30 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists output in Game 3, including a clutch jump shot that helped stymie a late Mavericks run.
Brown is now the heavy favorite to win Finals MVP, with his teammate Jayson Tatum the only other one within striking distance.
Brown was the exclamation point on the Celtics second-half surge past the Mavericks, sparked by a 35-19 third quarter. Brown scored 15 points in the third quarter and 24 in the entire second half to finish with a healthy stat line.
He is averaging 24 points, six rebounds, and five assists while shooting 55% from the field in the NBA Finals, and also had the game-sealing jumper.
Tatum is the only other player in the mix, fresh off his best scoring performance of the series, putting in 31 points with six rebounds and five assists, but did shoot 11-for-26 as he continues to struggle with his shot. Tatum has been stuffing the stat sheet with 21 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists, but is shooting below 36% from the field.
Brown, who won Eastern Conference Finals MVP, looks primed to take home Finals MVP with Tatumās inability to score efficiently, and with the Celtics well on its way to banner No. 18.
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The Dallas Mavericks were not going to be stopped in Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, as the tandem of Luka DonÄiÄ and Kyrie Irving was dialed in offensively Thursday during what, barring a historic comeback, will be the closeout game of the Western Conference finals.
Holding a massive lead in the third quarter, DonÄiÄ wasn't shying away from hecklers in the crowd at the Target Center in Minneapolis. After making a difficult shot and drawing a foul at the basket, the 25-year-old could be overheard on the TNT broadcast clapping back at one of the hecklers.
"Yeah! Who's crying, motherfāāer?" shouted DonÄiÄ, fired up after his and-one.
ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported that the fan to whom DonÄiÄ responded was making a crying baby gesture toward the Mavs guard.
Snoop Dogg was sitting courtside at the Target Center and he had a front row seat to the highlight-reel play and the eye-opening exchange that followed. Needless to say, he was loving the intensity and looked utterly stunned by what DonÄiÄ was doing.
At that point in the game, DonÄiÄ and Irving were nearly outscoring the Timberwolves as a duo, and the star guard was letting the opposing fan base hear it while dominating and ensuring their season would end on their own court.
Just about 90 minutes before the opening tipoff of Game 5, Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch made sure to point out an issue he has with the Dallas Mavericks and the officials working the Western Conference finals.
Finch was asked by The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski what he would like to see Anthony Edwards do better while guarding Mavericks star Luka DonÄiÄ in Game 5.
"He does a better job getting through all those illegal screens they set for Luka," Finch said.
"With Ant, what do you hope that he does well to at least make it a little bit hard on Luka?"
"He does a better job getting through all those illegal screens they set for Luka." - Chris Finchpic.twitter.com/iSDZUsjRPY
ā Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) May 30, 2024
Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels, who was named to the All-NBA Defensive second team this season, primarily handled the matchup against DonÄiÄ over the first three games of the series. But the Wolves swapped the assignment in Game 4, switching McDaniels over to Kyrie Irving and putting Edwards on DonÄiÄ.
DonÄiÄ averaged 32.7 points over the first three games of the series and scored 28 in Game 4, but Edwards had noticeably more energy on the offensive end while not having to chase Irving around on defense.
Game 5 between the Timberwolves and Mavericks is set to tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday at Target Center.
