Only one thing on Mavs’ mind — finish the job

Finish the job!

That’s likely the mantra of the Dallas Mavericks entering Game 6 of their first-round best-of-seven playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers. After all, even an elephant can remember what happened when the Mavs were faced with this same challenge – against this same franchise — in the first round of the 2021 playoffs.

That year, the Mavs took a 3-2 lead on the Clippers after winning Game 5 in Los Angeles. All they needed to do was win one more game and they would have advanced to the Western Conference semifinals.

Instead, the Mavs dropped Game 6 at American Airlines Center, 104-97, then traveled back to LA and lost Game 7, 126-111. That’s why the Mavs want everyone to pump the breaks on the enthusiasm meter until they finally win that fourth game – and the series – against the Clippers.

“Go home and finish it,” is what Mavs forward Derrick Jones Jr. said. “We’re not trying to play around.”

In Game 6 in 2021, the Mavs were less than eight minutes away from finishing off the Clippers and moving into the conference semifinals. Dallas led, 77-73, after the third quarter, and 85-84, with 7:36 remaining in the game.

But the Clippers outscored the Mavs, 20-12, the rest of the game – 10 of those points came from Kawhi Leonard – and that momentum carried on into their victory in the decisive Game 7. On Friday, the Mavs don’t want the Clippers getting any ideas of history possibly repeating itself.

“We just got to go out there and finish the game,” Jones said. “Let’s finish it.”

The health of point guard Luka Dončić may determine how well the Mavs perform in Game 6. Dončić is battling a sprained right knee and a congestion from a cold.

However, that didn’t prevent Dončić from racking up 35 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists during Wednesday’s 123-93 lopsided triumph in Game 5 of this series. The Mavs are hoping for more of the same from Dončić on Friday.

In addition, the Mavs would prefer to keep the Clippers’ three-point expertise down to a minimum. In the Clippers’ Game 1 victory, they were 18-of-36 from three-point land, and in their Game 4 win, they were 18-of-29 from downtown.

By contrast, when the Mavs won Game 2 they held the Clippers to 8-of-30 shooting from beyond the three-point arc. And the Clippers were just 10-of-29 from behind the three-point line during the Mavs’ victory in Game 3.

Also, when the Mavs took control of this series with their 30-point blowout win in Game 5, the Clippers were only 9-of-35 from downtown. Thus, it appears as though victories by the Mavs in this series hinge on whether they can keep the Clippers from succeeding at the three-point line.

“We know our fans are going to be amazing at home, so we just got to win one more,” Dončić said. “We didn’t do nothing yet.”

After Game 5, Jones said the strategy by the Mavs was to “just make them go to the rim and finish over the length that we have and the bigs (in centers Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II) going vertical with them. It’s a hand in their face as well.

“If you’re going to shoot a contested three, we’re going to live with it. Our main focus was just getting them inside the three-point line and making them finish with twos.”

That’ll be the main focus again on Friday for the Mavs as they plan on finally finishing the job against the Clippers.

Here are some other nuggets surrounding Game 6 between the Mavs and Clippers.

*With a win on Friday, the Mavs will win a playoff series for just the third time since they captured the 2011 NBA championship. Since beating the Miami Heat in six games in the ’11 Finals, the Mavs’ only other series wins occurred in 2022 when they defeated Utah in six games in the first round of the playoffs, and followed that up by bouncing the Phoenix Suns in an epic seven games in the conference semifinals.

*The past two games in this series have been like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation for Clippers’ stars Paul George and James Harden. In the Clippers’ 116-111 victory in Game 4, George finished with 33 points, six rebounds, eight assists and four steals, and was 11-of-19 from the field, including a red-hot 7-of-10 from behind the three-point stripe. In that same game Harden collected 33 points, six rebounds and seven assists, and was 12-of-17 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from three-point range. But in Game 5, George finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and no steals, and was 4-of-13 from the field, including 2-of-6 from downtown. For Harden in Game 5, he wound up with just seven points, four rebounds, seven assists and was only 2-of-12 from the floor, including 1-of-7 from downtown.

*Mavs point guard Luka Dončić shook off an illness and a sprained right knee to collect 35 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists during Wednesday’s 123-93 victory in Los Angeles. Dončić now has 11 playoff games where he’s scored at least 30 points, grabbed at least five rebounds and distributed at least five assists against the Clippers. LeBron James is the only player who accomplished this feat against one opponent in NBA playoff history more times than Dončić. James did this 14 times against Boston, 14 times against Golden State and 12 times against Indiana. Thanks to his performance in Wednesday’s game, Dončić also tied Oscar Robertson for the most 35-point, 10-assist playoff games against one opponent with four.

*Mavs guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (right ankle sprain) and forward Olivier Maxence-Prosper (left ankle sprain) have been ruled out of Friday’s game. For the Clippers, forward Kawhi Leonard (inflammation in right knee) won’t play in Game 6, and guard Terance Mann is questionable with a right lower leg contusion.

*The odds are in the Mavs’ favor of moving on to the next round of the playoffs to play the Oklahoma City Thunder. That series will start Tuesday at OKC regardless of whether the Mavs-Clippers series ends in six games or is extended to a seventh game on Sunday. When an NBA playoff series is knotted at 2-2, the Game 5 winner has a 188-42 record and went on to capture the series 81.7 percent of the time. Also, the team with a 3-2 lead in the series – regardless of what occurred in Game 5 – is 288-55 overall and went on to win that series 84 percent of the time.

*The last time the Mavs clinched a playoff series at home was in 2011 when they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games in the Western Conference Finals. Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion scored 26 points apiece for the Mavs, and Jason Kidd added two points, seven rebounds and 10 assists. The Thunder were led by Russell Westbrook (31 points, eight rebounds, five assists), James Harden (23 points, five rebounds, six assists) and Kevin Durant (23 points, nine rebounds).

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (2-3) at DALLAS MAVERICKS (3-2)

When: 8:30 p.m., Friday

Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas

TV: BSSW, ESPN

Radio: KEGL 97.1 FM The Eagle; 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish)

X: @DwainPrice