Will all the weight of this game fall on the shoulders of Kawhi Leonard or Luka Doncic?
At the end of the day, the stars for both teams have played their hearts out in this series, but only one team can advance. Luka Doncic has been spectacular for the Mavericks in this series, averaging 34.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 9.7 assists and shooting 47.6% from the floor, 40.0% from three-point range, and will need to have yet another dazzling performance in Game 7 for Dallas to advance.
For the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard has been carrying the load for them and is coming off one of his best performances of his career in Game 6. In that must-win game for Los Angeles, Leonard tied his career-high in points with 45 points on 18-25 shooting, including two key three-points down the stretch in the fourth-quarter. Leonard also ended the game with 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
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Both Doncic and Leonard have carried a lot of the weight for their teams in this series, but Game 7 may not necessarily come down to whichever one of these guys has the better game. Both All-Stars have that “second guy” next to them that they will need to count on. For the Mavericks, this guy is Tim Hardaway Jr. and for the Clippers, their guy is Paul George.
Whoever wins the “battle” between Hardaway Jr. and George is going to wind up winning this series for their team because of the up-and-down play both of them have had. When Dallas wins, Tim Hardaway Jr. is averaging 23.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and is shooting just under 52% from three-point range, but when Dallas loses, he is only averaging 13.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and shooting 38.0% from three-point range.
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For the Clippers, Paul George is averaging 23.8 points per game during this series and is shooting 48.1% from the floor, but at home in this series, he is averaging 24.7 points per game and is shooting 49.1% from the floor. It is small, but George has played slightly better at home, which is why this secondary scoring matchup with Tim Hardaway Jr. is going to be critical in this game.
Kawhi Leonard and Luka Doncic are going to do their thing tonight for Dallas and Los Angeles respectively, but the performances of Tim Hardaway Jr. for the Mavs and Paul George for the Clippers could very well prove to be the deciding factor in this game.
