Dallas is one game away from their sixth NBA final, while the Warriors are one win away from winning the series.
What a comeback that was from the Mavericks after losing three consecutive games. This is exceptional from Mavs pulling off an incredible win in a situation where their morale was running low, and the NBA final was on the table. They have shown how tough they are mentally and physically. They are now one win away from their six NBA final appearance in eight seasons.
Golden State Warrior lost the fourth game of the Conference Finals by 119-109 on the board. They were running high with their morale and thrashed Mavs in the previous games with sheer nonchalance. But they are still leading 3-1, and they have a series win chance on Thursday night in Chase Center. Now let’s have a look at what went wrong for them and what they need to learn.
They Dropped a Lot of 3-Pointers
The Mavericks hit 20 3-pointers on 43 attempts, Reggie Bullock six 3-pointers on 10 attempts, Dorian Finney-Smith four 3-pointers, and Luka Doncic three 3-pointers. This was a far better night for Dallas from the devastating third game when they scored 13 from 45 shots. In the same fashion, they scored 15 three-pointers in the first half of the game, but the Warriors retrieved and got the lead.
Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr said after the win that “If they can hit 30 3-pointers, they deserve to win.”
Albeit Dallas’s shooting was perfect, the weak defense of the Warriors let them win the game as the Warriors left players open in the corners and on top of that Mavericks’ coach Jason Kidd adjusted their gameplay.
“The biggest compliment we’ve got is that they’ve got the zone to play because they can’t play us one after the other, right?” Kidd told the media after the game. “It’s a championship DNA team. They’re giving you compliments that they can’t protect you. It’s great.”
Dallas had focused on their defense in the second half as they overloaded their defense field one of their five shooters remained open, and in the second half he knocked Donikic off the ball, and the defense read the game very well.
“The playoffs are fun,” Steph Curry said after the game. “It’s a game of adjustment, and you have to figure out if you can’t do it on the fly, and you have a game like tonight. These next 48 hours, get ready and take another level of focus on it.” Do what they did to win the game like they did tonight.”
They didn’t Shoot Enough from 3.
The Warrior amassed ten points in 28 attempts from the three-pointer as they haven’t played enough to shoot from the 3-pointers. In the first half of the game, they hit 3 in 16 shots while Dallas scored 11 in 23 attempts. Curry made five attempts from 3-pointers and scored two of them, as did Jordan Poole. Meanwhile, Klay Thompson attempted six 3-pointers and hit two of them.
Moreover, the bench unit got thrown into the game in the fourth quarter and they cut down the deficit of Warriors to eight points but the heroic performances from the young lads didn’t help the enough to cover the devastating and ugly offensive night.
“I thought overall tonight, the ball did not move well enough,” coach Steve =Kerr said. “Way too much dribbling, and I thought that group came out and did a better job moving the ball, and we got some easy buckets.”
The Energy was off
Warriors got in to play the game with heavy hearts curtesy of the shooting at Robb Elementary in nearby Uvalde, Texas, as Coach Steve Kerr delivered an emotional speech before the game and urged the lawmakers to take action against the illegal possession of guns. Their emotions were high before the game.
“Especially before the game, before it started,” Kerr told the media after the game. “I think we all felt the anger, the frustration. I know I expressed it to you guys. So I was pretty emotional, and I tried to just, you know, get myself composed and coach the team.”
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