With a key play-in tournament seeding matchup set for later in the week, the Los Angeles Clippers are intent to focus on the task at hand when they play host to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday at Inglewood, Calif.
The Clippers (40-38) are tied with the Portland Trail Blazers for eighth place in the Western Conference standings heading into Portland’s road game Monday against the Denver Nuggets. But Los Angeles holds the better seeding via tiebreaker.
On Wednesday, the Clippers face the Oklahoma City Thunder while the Trail Blazers face the San Antonio Spurs. Then Los Angeles travels to Portland on Friday in a matchup that could decide the play-in game between Nos. 7 and 8 seeds, with the winner of that contest going directly into the playoff field.
The Clippers’ visit from the Mavericks comes after they earned a 138-109 road victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday that marked a return to both offensive and defensive intensity. Forced into a smaller lineup of late, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue vowed to make adjustments that showed up against the Kings.
Kawhi Leonard delivered his same steady effort by scoring 26 points for his 54th consecutive game with at least 20. John Collins added 25 as he moved into a reserve role for the first time in 10 games.
“Right now, I’m trying to bring a good energy and a good vibe, a sense of understanding and making sure every single (teammate) is enjoying the moment and not getting too down on themselves,” Leonard said after the victory. “Just bringing that killer mentality to work, making sure that everybody is stepping up.”
The Mavericks (25-53) will open a three-game road trip after an offensive-forward 134-128 home victory Sunday against the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers. Rookie Cooper Flagg continued to show his growth with 45 points, one game after dropping 51 against the Orlando Magic.
The 19-year-old Flagg is a combined 33 of 57 (57.9%) from the floor over the past two games, while also going 8 of 13 (61.5%) from 3-point range.
While the Charlotte Hornets’ Kon Knueppel appeared to be in the lead for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, Flagg has made a late push to put the honor in question between the close friends and former Duke teammates.
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd described a passing of the torch of sorts in Sunday’s game where 41-year-old Lakers star LeBron James scored 30 points.
“The future is extremely bright when you talk about the league,” Kidd said. “Before we put LeBron to rest, he is showing the world at the age of 41, he can still play the game at a high level. … When you talk about the youth, Cooper is part of that group so it’s exciting to see. The NBA is in good hands as we go forward.”
Flagg’s late rookie-of-the-year push appears to be a big part of the Dallas game plan.
Flagg has taken 27 shot attempts in a game five times this season and two have come in the past two games. Now he goes up against another high-volume shooter in Leonard, who is eighth in the NBA with 19.4 shots per game.
