Mavs star Doncic looks to bounce back from rough Game 1
OKLAHOMA CITY — As Oklahoma City prepared to host the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault was asked how his team would brace for Luka Doncic’s physical style.
Daigneault quipped that he just needed lockdown defender Lu Dort to show up on time for the game.
Dort did more than just arrive on time. He was the defensive catalyst as the Thunder held Doncic, the league’s regular-season scoring leader, to 19 points on 6-for-19 shooting in Oklahoma City’s 117-95 victory.
Doncic has been nursing a knee injury since the first round of the playoffs. It could be affecting him, though he refused to make excuses after Game 1.
That doesn’t mean Oklahoma City is off the hook, though — Kyrie Irving is fully capable of scoring more. He often defers to Doncic, but he might not do that so much if his teammate struggles early in Game 2 on Thursday in Oklahoma City.
Daigneault said he’s prepared if Irving chooses to shoulder more of the offensive load. Irving is averaging 25.6 points per game on 51.2% shooting in the playoffs. He scored 20 in the opener against the Thunder.
“We’re expecting that pitch in Game 2 and Game 3 and so on and so forth,” Daigneault said.
Irving, who won a championship with Cleveland in 2016, didn’t make much of the opening loss.
“We just have to adjust to the team we’re playing against,” Irving said. “I think that’s the most important thing. This Game 1 is done. We didn’t play as well as we would have liked. We failed on a lot of our coverages. And we didn’t come in with the attitude that was necessary.”
Daigneault expects a difficult Game 2.
“We know they’re going to come out aggressively, confidently,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of experience under their belt. They’re not going to be rattled by one playoff loss. And so we’ve got to rise to that.”
Boston’s Jayson Tatum, like Doncic, wasn’t at his best in his Game 1 on Tuesday. The difference was his teammates stepped up in the Celtics’ 12095 win over Cleveland in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Tatum had 18 points on 7-for-19 shooting in the opener, but Jaylen Brown scored 32 points and Derrick White added 25.
Tatum wasn’t worried when his shots weren’t falling.
“We’ve got a really talented team,” Tatum said. “It shows the depth of our team, and how we can win games in a lot of different ways.”