Clippers Advance to 2nd Round
After a grueling seven-game series, the Los Angeles Clippers have clinched their spot in the Western Conference semifinals with a 126-111 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at Staples Center on Sunday afternoon.
As we have seen him do over the course of his career, Kawhi Leonard put the Clippers on his back on both ends of the floor to help put Los Angeles in a position to pull away from Luka Doncic and the Mavericks in the second half as they used a 24-4 run to close the third quarter to really open things up. While Dallas made a run in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to seven points, Los Angeles had just enough answers down the stretch to finish the job and win the series.
With the win, Los Angeles advances to face the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference semifinals with Game 1 of that best-of-seven series scheduled for Tuesday night.
Here are four key takeaways from the game:
1. Clippers survive and advance
When the Clippers lost the first two games of this series at home, it was pretty easy to start firing up the same old narratives about this team’s playoff history. And even more so after they dropped Game 5 at home as well. After all, they blew a 3-1 lead in the second round just last season, and have never made the conference finals in franchise history.
But streaks are made to be broken, and narratives can always be rewritten. After their Game 7 win on Sunday afternoon, the Clippers are well on their way to doing just that. Perhaps it was fitting that after their collapses in past postseasons, the Clippers were the ones who battled back from significant deficits in this series. The jury is still out on their ability to win a title, but any questions about their toughness and will to win have been answered.
Now, they’re on to face the No. 1 overall seed, the Utah Jazz, in the second round. It will be a quick turnaround, …