LOS ANGELES — James Harden spent the season building a pick-and-roll chemistry with big man Ivica Zubac. The future Hall of Famer in his first season in Los Angeles is teaching the longest-serving Clipper.
It was beneficial in their first playoff game.
Harden got 28 points in his first playoff game for the Clippers, Zubac scored a playoff career-high 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and Los Angeles beat Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks 109-97 on Sunday.
“A perfect game for a big,” said Harden, who, like Paul George, is aiming for his first NBA championship.
Game 2 is on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“We are playing against some Hall of Famers,” Dallas’ Kyrie Irving said. “I'm not sure if we're even the favorites in this series, so we just have to focus on what we can control.”
Coach Tyronn Lue called the first play of the game for Zubac, and the Clippers had a strong start.
“When I'm on the court, I'll try to punish them in the post,” said Zubac, in his sixth season with the team. “I want to be the best version I can be for this team.”
Harden made 6 of 11 3-pointers and had eight assists. George ended with 22 points after the Mavs limited him in the first half. The Clippers outperformed the Mavs in their own 3-point game, making 18 of 36 from long range to Dallas' 10 of 33.
“We're going to be very good any time Zu is playing at that level,” George said.
The Clippers had five players in double figures without Kawhi Leonard. The two-time NBA Finals MVP hasn't played since March 31 because of inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee. Russell Westbrook finished with 13 points and fellow reserve guard Norman Powell played 30 minutes.
“We obviously want Kawhi back when he’s ready,” George said. “The luxury we have is just experience with James, myself, Russ, Norm’s been in big playoff battles.”
The teams were meeting in the playoffs for the third time in five years, with the Clippers having won both previous series.
“Their mentality was next man up and they did very well, very well,” Doncic said. “We just got to stay focused 48 minutes.”
Doncic led the Mavs with 33 points and 13 rebounds. Irving had 31 points and seven rebounds, but the Mavs got little from their supporting cast.
“Luka was finding the open guy. We just didn’t shoot well,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “I like the way we played in the second half and we got to build on that.”
Trailing by 22, the Mavs outscored the Clippers 10-2 to close within 102-88. Dallas was helped by a technical on Zubac and a flagrant-1 foul for his subsequent actions after a second free throw attempt by Doncic. In total, it cost the Clippers four points after Doncic scored with the Mavs retaining possession.
“I didn’t have a lot of technicals and flagrants in my life,” Zubac said. “I don’t know how I got both on the same play.”
Harden hit another 3-pointer, George scored four in a row and the Clippers concluded the win.
“Very important to start off on the right note,” George said. “You want to take care of business at home.”
The Mavs improved in the third quarter, when Doncic and Irving (20 points) together scored 29 of their 34 points. However, they were still behind 87-64 at the start of the fourth quarter. George’s 3-pointer increased the Clippers' lead to 29, their biggest lead so far.
“We need to play like that throughout the whole game in the second half, so we need to learn from that,” Doncic said.
The Clippers controlled the first half, leading 56-30 at halftime. It was the fewest points they’ve allowed in either half of a playoff game and a first-half playoff low for the Mavs, who were outscored 22-8 in the second quarter when they made just two field goals.
“In a playoff game, man, scoring eight points feels like forever,” Irving said. “It started with how we started off the second quarter and allowed them to feel very comfortable in that first quarter and there was carryover. We got to give them credit for hitting shots and doing the right thing. Capitalizing off our turnovers and our lack of physicality.”
Harden scored 20 points in the half, including nine in a row in the second quarter. He made his first four 3s.
Doncic and Irving made a total of 5 of 19 shots in the half. Doncic scored all of his 11 points in the first quarter; Irving only scored two of his six points in the second.
Terance Mann and Amir Coffey, who started in place of Leonard, led a Clippers defense that limited Dallas to 9 of 40 field-goal shooting and 2 of 18 from 3-point range in the half.
