Whenever Luka Doncic takes on the Los Angeles Clippers, you know he’s going to put on a show. The Clippers have been one of the better defensive teams in the NBA since Luka entered the league but that hasn’t stopped him from torching them almost every single time he’s faced them.
So, when the Dallas Mavericks headed to Los Angeles for a showdown with the Clippers on Tuesday night, you knew there were going to be fireworks. Luka put on a show, as he finished with 43 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists, but it still wasn’t enough, as Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers to a 113-101 win. Still, Luka’s dominance against them has reached historic levels, as he broke a tie with Kobe Bryant by registering his 8th 40+ point game against them.
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 11, 2023
When you consider that Bryant basically played against them 4 times in every season of his career, it is simply astonishing what Doncic has accomplished here. Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was asked if he thinks it’ll ever get easier for them to stop Luka and he doesn’t think it will.
“This dude man. I mean he’s tough man. He’s a tough cover. He loves playing against a lot of people, but for some reason, he really loves playing against us, you know?”
He sure does, although it was a familiar story when it came to who got the win in the end. For all of Luka’s greatness, the Clippers have beaten them in the playoffs on the two occasions that they have faced off and Doncic just needs more help. Even in this game, Luka had 20 points in the 4th quarter while the rest of the team had 3. One man is never going to beat a good team by himself and that’s basically been the story of this matchup.
The Clippers Got A Much-Needed Win Here
There was a lot of hype around the Clippers before the season as a lot of people felt this could be the year that they finally break through. If their play over the last couple of weeks was anything to go by though, you’d think they were a lottery team.
The Clippers had lost 6 in a row coming into this one and an ugly loss to the Denver Nuggets in that stretch had Stephen A. Smith blast the players. Kawhi stated that the locker room was still in a good state despite the losing streak and added that it is a good challenge for them to dig out of this hole. They face the Nuggets again on Friday night and we’ll see if they have really turned a corner after this win.
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