Mavs Step Back LIVE: Clippers Part II - A 49% Chance At Luka Doncic Revenge?

Mavs Step Back LIVE: Dallas will take on the Clippers in an NBA Playoff rematch, as Luka Doncic looks for revenge and Kristaps Porzingis looks to flip a switch defensively.

Dalton Trigg | May 19, 2021

Mavs Step Back LIVE: Clippers Part II - A 49% Chance At Luka Doncic Revenge? /

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks are just a few days away from their playoff rematch with the Los Angeles Clippers, and if last year taught us anything, we’ll be in for a thrilling first-round series.

In fact, if history teaches us anything, it's that the No. 5 seed has a 49-percent chance of winning this thing.

Last season, despite unbelievable performances from Doncic, the Clippers ultimately beat the Mavs in six games due to a number of unfortunate occurrences, including Kristaps Porzingis being ejected late in Game 1 when Dallas had the lead, and then KP not being able to continue playing after Game 3 due to a meniscus tear.

However, this time around, the Mavs are healthier and they have more experience.

“This is where there’s no substitute for experience,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “Having gone through that and some of the chippy things that happen in a playoff series, it’s a great learning experience. ... It's an important thing. The ultimate goal is to be better this year going in and give ourselves a better chance.”

After an incredibly physical series last year, can Doncic get his revenge? Will Porzingis be able to flip a switch and look like the player we saw in the NBA bubble again?

And as first-round matchups between the fourth- and fifth-seeded teams have been won by the higher seed 51 percent of the time (183-176). ... is Dallas' 49-percent chance a very positive thing?

As we await Saturday's 3:30 p.m. CT Game 1 tip at L.A. ... We discuss all that and more with a handful of our listeners on this week’s Mavs Step Back LIVE:

As always, thanks for listening, and be sure to:

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CONTINUE READING: KP - We're 'Ready To Go' For Playoffs

Published May 19, 2021

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.