By Antonis Stroggylakis / AStroggylakis@eurohoops.net
Every time a Dallas Mavericks player took a glance at the seats behind and above his team’s bench in Game 2 against the Los Angeles Clippers, he’d notice a rather tall blonde guy, standing out among a sea of cardboard cutouts. The person would often cheer and celebrate a successful Mavs play, probably getting a memory or two from the days when he wore the team’s jersey and fired rainbow buckets at will.
Mavericks GOAT Dirk Nowitzki attended the second game of the playoff series and saw his beloved Dallas taking a 2-0 upper hand in the series, led by his former young protege and now rightful successor Luka Doncic. The presence of the man who led the Mavs to the 2011 championship was something that further emboldened the team through its efforts to double the wins in Los Angeles, according to coach Rick Carlisle.
“I saw him and Jessica [Nowitzki – Dirk’s wife) in the hotel yesterday. It gives you a profound lift,” Carlisle said. “When you are in between the first two games in the playoffs and you see that. That playoff warrior with whom we’ve been in so many battles. And he said that he was going to be coming to the game which was great news.”
Perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that under Dirk’s eye and with his mojo in the house, the Mavericks rained down 3-point fire and brimstone on the Clippers with 18 triples in one of their top shooting performances ever in the playoffs.
According to Mavs PR, Dallas’ 18 3-pointers marked the second most in a postseason game that wasn’t decided in overtime. Their overall 48-82 from the field is the fourth-best in the club’s entire playoff history.
“I certainly believe that him being in the game was a lucky charm for us,” Carlisle added. “It never hurts.”
While Doncic surpassed even his Game 1 display with 39 points (plus seven assists and seven rebounds), the main Mavs perpetrator from beyond the arc was Tim Hardaway Jr. The 29-year-old wing hit 6-8 3-pointers and finished with 28 points for a new playoffs career-high.
“2-0 when Dirk is in the building. I’ll tell you that,” Hardaway commented on Nowitzki attending the match. “We saw Dirk earlier today. We knew he was there. We were happy we were able to pull out a victory.”
Hardaway and his teammates want to keep themselves collected since they are aware that the “job is not done” yet.
“I thought we celebrated a bit too much,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “We just won the second game and we’re not there. It’s a good step for where we want to go but there’s still work to do. They are a talented team and anything can happen.”
Doncic aims for himself and his teammates to retain a certain level of aggressiveness, particularly when going up against the Clippers’ seasoned veterans like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
“Obviously, Kawhi is an amazing defender,” Doncic said. “They have some good defenders like PG and Kawhi. Two of the best perimeter defenders. We just have to be aggressive. It’s playoffs and we have to be aggressive. That’s it.”
Unlike Game 1 when the “Why isn’t Kawhi on Luka?” was flooding Twitter, this time Leonard assumed the task of guarding Doncic plenty of times, as Clippers coach Tyronn Lue had hinted that will be the case. It didn’t help them much though.
The Slovenian All-Star was once again a flamethrower, exceptionally reading every mismatch and weakness of the opposing defense in the blink of an eye and making the most out of the slightest opportunity. The result was either him doing the damage directly or involving his teammates and initiating offense for them.
He was also hitting all kind of shots, under pressure or not. Doncic’s baskets included a step-back jumper over Leonard and a one-legged tough shot, some fitting tributes to Nowitzki. The face of the Mavs’ legendary history and the man of their present and future dapped up after the win.