Luka Doncic, who is struggling by his MVP-candidate standards while dealing with a sore knee, blamed himself after the Mavs came up short Sunday.
Irving scored all 40 of his points after Los Angeles went up 31 midway through the second quarter, including an acrobatic layup over three Clippers defenders to give the Mavs the lead with 2:15 remaining.
Irving is averaging 28.8 points while shooting 51.3% from the floor and 48.5% from 3-point range. Doncic is averaging 29.0 points and has struggled to find his touch against the Clippers, shooting 38.6% from the floor and 26.5% from 3-point range in the series.Doncic has dealt with stiffness and soreness in his right knee since injuring it during the first quarter of Friday's Game 3 win.
Doncic was blown by on 12 of the 15 drives he defended, according to Second Spectrum data. The 80% blow-by percentage allowed is tied for the highest given up by a player who has defended at least 10 drives in a playoff game over the past 10 postseasons. "The game plan was living with his floaters, so I was just trying not to give him 3s," Doncic said."But obviously it wasn't good, especially me." off the 3-point line. The Clippers' star duo combined to go 10-of-13 from 3-point range while scoring 44 points in the first half.
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