Dallas (AFP)
Slovenian star Luka Doncic prevented his Dallas Mavericks team from losing the Western Region Final series, without a response, by winning the fourth game against the Golden State Warriors 119-109, reducing the score 1-3 to postpone the latter’s qualification to the NBA Final.
Although no team during the 75 years of the league’s history has succeeded in making up for its 0-3 lag and winning a series of seven games in the “Playoff”, Tuesday’s victory gave a “glimmer of hope” for the Mavericks with the possibility of achieving the achievement, despite the difficulty of the task, especially The series is now moving to Warriors Stadium.
Doncic played the key role in putting an end to the Warriors’ streak of victories in the Western Region Final in 9 consecutive games, an extension of the 2017-2018 season, when Stephen Curry and his colleagues won the title for the third time in four seasons, by scoring 30 points with 14 rebounds to achieve two double figures “Double Double”. For the tenth time in 14 games he played in the “Playoffs” this season.
The Slovenian was close to three double numbers “Triple Double”, after he also contributed nine assists in a meeting, and unlike the past three matches, during which he had the effective support of his colleagues, led by Dorian Finney-Smith (23 points) and Reggie Bullock (18 of six triples). and Jaylene Bronson “15”.
Six Mavericks players finished the match with 10 points or more, after German Maxi Kleber and Spencer Dinwiddy contributed 13 and 10 points, respectively.
But what impressed Doncic was not the offensive ability of his teammates, but the defensive performance that forced Warriors star Stephen Curry to settle for twenty points.
“Our defense was great, this is how we have to play, we are a dangerous team when we play in this way,” the Slovenian said.
In response to the possibility that the Mavericks could succeed in returning from afar, and snatching the qualification to the final for the first time since the 2010-2011 season, when he crowned his only title under the leadership of another European in the person of German Dirk Nowitzki, the Slovenian said, “No one knows, we will be mutually supportive, it will be difficult for us. We know that, but we have to work together.”
In turn, coach Jason Kidd warned his team that it is one defeat away from exiting the “playoff”, saying, “We believe that every game must be dealt with, we did our work and found a way to win, the next task is to find a way to win away from home.”
He stressed, “We should not be overly optimistic, the result is still 3-1 and the Golden State Stadium is a difficult place to play in, but we have already won there. All we have to do is take care of the ball (not to lose it) and succeed in scoring.
After being unable to face coach Steve Kerr’s team in the first three matches of this series, the Mavericks appeared to be a different team on Tuesday, as they advanced by 15 points at the end of the first half after hitting hard in the middle of the second quarter, scoring 19 points compared to only two for their guest.
The triples were the key to winning the Mavericks in his first match in this series, after he succeeded in 20 attempts outside the arc out of 43, including 11 out of 23 in the first half, compared to only 3 out of 16 attempts for his guest during the first two quarters and 10 out of 28 in the entire match.
The Mavericks moved away from their guest by 29 points, which prompted Warriors coach Steve Kerr to rest his star Stephen Curry from the beginning of the last quarter, until the last 3.22 minutes, before throwing him, after hope returned to his team by reducing the difference to 8 points, 102-110.
But Doncic and Bullock frustrated the determination of the guests when the first scored an overwhelming basket “Dunk”, and the second added his sixth hat-trick in the match, which allowed their team to walk the match to safety.
Kerr said, “We had a chance to win, but we weren’t destined to win, Dallas was great tonight and deserves to win, they played more hard and executed the right way, this is the final of the region, so it should be between two great teams. They treated us well.