The Dallas Mavericks aren’t going home just yet. Facing elimination at home in Game 4, they responded to get their first victory of the Western Conference finals, defeating the Golden State Warriors 119-109 on Tuesday night. The series, which now stands 3-1 in favor of the Warriors will head back to the Bay Area for Game 5 on Thursday night.
After a competitive first quarter, the Mavericks opened up a double-digit lead in the second quarter and led by 15 heading into the break. Then, play was halted due to a leak in the roof of the American Airlines Center. When play finally did resume, the Mavericks picked up right where they left off and built a 29-point lead with some amazing 3-point shooting. While the Warriors’ reserves led a spirited comeback that briefly cut the deficit to single digits late in the fourth quarter, the game was never truly in doubt.
Luka Doncic was not as his most efficient, but led the way with 30 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. The main story for the Mavericks, though, was their 3-point shooting. They went 20 of 43 from downtown to improve to 7-3 in the playoffs when they make more than 15 3s. Reggie Bullock hit six of them en route to 18 points.
This was not a great performance from the Warriors, though their fourth-quarter surge makes some of the overall stats look OK.
Steph Curry had a team-high 20 points, but shot just 7 of 16 from the field. Jonathan Kuminga was a bright spot in defeat with 17 points and eight rebounds.
The Mavericks’ offensive attack is built around the 3-point shot, to the extent that they often live and die by whether or not those shots go in. Aside from the first half of Game 2, they have not in this series, which is why the Mavericks were down 3-0 and facing elimination.
In Game 4 they found their stroke, going 20 of 43 from downtown en route to a series-saving victory. They doubled up the Warriors from the outside, outscoring them by 30 points from 3-point land, which was too big of a margin to make up. The Mavericks are now 7-3 in the playoffs when they make at least 15 3-pointers, and 2-4 when they don’t reach that mark.
Reggie Bullock, who went 0 of 10 from the field and didn’t score a single point in the Game 3 loss, led the way in Game 4 by making a team-high six 3-pointers. The rest of the squad got in on the act as well, with eight different Mavericks hitting at least one triple. Making 20 3-pointers in a game is obviously easier said than done, but the Mavericks are going to need more performance like this if they want to keep extending this series.
