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Kyrie Irving he was the protagonist of an incredible game and with spectacular baskets, as only he can do, in the we are 4 against the Los Angeles Clippers. A race that the Californian team has come to control even with 31 points ahead in the first half, before Kyrie Irving got busy, starting Dallas’ recovery. The former Nets player put in a great performance 40 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, with 14/25 shooting, 6/12 from three points and an incredible basket in clutch time, between three Clippers players and which will probably go down in playoff history. Dallas’ comeback, however, did not end well, with Los Angelese which, with suffering, managed to tie the series. The missing protagonist of this race 4 was, unexpectedly, Luka Doncic.
Triple double from 29/10/10 for the Slovenian, but with 10/24 from the field and 1/9 from three.
“I have to help him more“Doncic said of Irving. “I feel like I’m letting him down, so I have to be more present. I need to give him more support. He gave everything he had and is playing great in this series.”
Irving averages 28.8 points in these playoffs, shooting 51.3% from the field and 48.5% from 3-point range. Doncic is maintaining an average 29.0 points per game, but is struggling to find his way to the basket, only making the 38,6% of his shots and the 26,5% of his attempts from beyond the arc. Doncic also had to grit his teeth due to the pain in his right knee, suffered in the game 3 on Fridaywhich raised doubts about his presence in Game 4.
“It hurts obviously, but it’s no excuse“said Doncic, who played 45 minutes yesterday. “I played sloppy, I have to be a lot better than that.” “I think he did everything he could“The Mavs coach said instead, Jason Kiddnoting that Dallas was -15 points in Doncic’s three minutes of rest.
The European star of the Mavericks also had to play with foul problems after committing two in the first three minutes, and having spent the last six minutes with 5. Doncic in fact struggled above all to defend James Harden in the final minutes, who scored 15 of his 33 points came in the fourth quarterwith five floaters in the running, proving absolutely decisive, together with Paul George (33 points) and in the absence of Kawhi Leonard, for the Clippers’ victory.
Now the series moves back to Los Angeles for game 5, at the end of which one of the two teams will have obtained the first match point.
2024-04-29 17:17:23
#Kyrie
