Luka Doncic wills Mavericks to win — with his defense? ‘It’s the playoffs,’ he explains

LOS ANGELES — Midway through the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s Game 2 slugfest in Crypto.com Arena, Kawhi Leonard posted up Luka Doncic on the right baseline. Usually that’s an automatic basket, regardless of who’s defending Leonard.

Doncic, though, crowded Leonard, forcing him into shooting it well short, the ball grazing the bottom of the net.

”How is Luka playing defense?” a teenage Clippers fan shrieked in dismay and disbelief.

The kid, the rest of the raucous sellout crowd, a TNT national audience and the Clippers saw vividly that Doncic nowadays does in fact play defense — and that the versatile and rugged Mavericks might be uniquely equipped to make a significant run in the NBA’s tough-and-tumble playoffs.

Doncic not only largely willed the Mavericks’ 96-93 Game 2 victory with his 32 points, but with his equally passionate, tone-setting defense.

According to ESPN Stats and Information, Clippers players shot 2-of-17 when guarded by Doncic as the primary defender. Overall, Dallas limited Los Angeles to 36.8% shooting and the star troika of Leonard, James Harden and Paul George to 59 points on 20-of-45 shooting — including 4-of-20 on 3-pointers.

”Once that third quarter and fourth quarter hit, I feel like our physicality wore them down a little bit,” Mavericks star Kyrie Irving said. “We can just take some of those positives into next game.  I think it comes from our regular-season preparation and also being well-conditioned and pushing ourselves — and knowing what have left in the tank.”

With the series tied at 1-1, the Mavericks and Clippers used Wednesday as a travel and rest day before preparing for Friday night’s Game 3 in American Airlines Center. Sunday’s Game 4 also is in AAC.

Both teams have significant concerns as the series moves onward. For the Mavericks, it’s the uncertain health and underwhelming production of starting center Daniel Gafford. For Los Angeles, Leonard’s status bears watching after his Tuesday return to the court after a three-week absence due to right knee soreness and swelling.

Regardless, after getting largely bullied in Game 1, Dallas has shown that it can inflict and absorb playoff-style physicality. Game 2 was the style of game the Mavericks would not have won last season — or for that matter, this season, before the trade deadline acquisitions of P.J. Washington and Gafford.

“Obviously they punched us in the mouth in Game 1,” said Washington, who scored a team-high 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter. “We just wanted to respond tonight, and I felt like we set the tone defensively and with our aggression.”

Though Gafford was a nonfactor for the second straight game, Washington, Maxi Kleber, Derrick Jones Jr., Dereck Lively II — and, yes, Doncic — spearheaded the defensive effort.

“For sure it’s more physical, refs not calling that many fouls,” Doncic said, adding that he expected it because, after all, “it’s the playoffs. I think they’re just letting this play, which is fine. It’s just got to be the same on both ends.”

It’s probably a good thing general manager Nico Harrison remodeled these Mavericks as a bigger, more athletic and physical team. Just look at the scores so far during the first round of these playoffs.

In 14 games, the losing team has scored in the 90s and in two cases the 80s. Unlike Game 1 here, when the Clippers scored 109 points and were the more physical team, Dallas was the aggressor in nearly every way, including a 7-4 advantage in blocked shots.

“Ever since March, we could see there was a shift in the officiating,” coach Jason Kidd said. “There were less whistles and physicality had stepped up, so we embraced it. And that’s who we are.

“We’re not afraid of the physicality. I think that’s what we were a little bit disappointed about in Game 1, is that we weren’t physical. Maybe the rust, or maybe the time off, but tonight we played 48 minutes of physical basketball and found a way to win.”

It helps when your best player, your NBA MVP candidate, embraces his defensive role, as Doncic has increasingly done since Kidd’s arrival three seasons ago. That season, Kidd personally and publicly encouraged Doncic to “participate” more on defense.

Doncic did that and more on Tuesday. Although he was credited for only one steal and one block, it was his at times frothing-mad effort on the defensive end that helped set the tone.

His defensive play against Leonard came amid a 14-0 Mavericks fourth-quarter run, led by Doncic and Kyrie Irving and Washington on offense, but also with key defensive stops.

The Clippers continued to hunt Doncic in pick-and-rolls, but more often than not he stood his ground.

“I accept it,” he said. “It gets me going on the defensive end, too. If they want to attack me, that’s fine. I think I played good defense today. I’ve just got to stay locked in.”

Teammates notice.

“When he’s playing at that level, they have to step up, too,” Kidd said. “They understand the responsibility of their leader, when he’s going to play defense and participate, they have to be able to do the same thing.

“He’s leading, not just on the offensive end, but the defensive end.”

“Once that third quarter and fourth quarter hit, I feel like our physicality wore them down a little bit,” Irving said. “We can just take some of those positives into next game. I think it comes from our regular-season preparation and also being well-conditioned and pushing ourselves — and knowing what have left in the tank.”