James Harden spent the season developing a pick-and-roll chemistry with big man Ivica Zubac. The future Hall of Famer in his first season in Los Angeles is schooling the longest-tenured Clipper.
It paid off in their playoff series opener.
Harden scored 28 points in his playoff debut for the Clippers, Zubac had a playoff-career high 20 points to go with 15 rebounds, and Los Angeles defeated Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks 109-97 Sunday.
“Just a perfect game for a big,” said Harden, who, like Paul George, is seeking his first NBA championship.
Game 2 is Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“We are going against some Hall of Famers,” Dallas’ Kyrie Irving said. “I don’t even know if we even are favorites in this series and so we just have to pay attention to what we can control.”
Coach Tyronn Lue called the game’s first play for Zubac, and the Clippers were off to a dominating start.
Harden hit 6 of 11 3-pointers and had eight assists. George finished with 22 points after the Mavs slowed him in the first half. The Clippers outdid the Mavs at their own 3-point game, making 18 of 36 from long range to 10 of 33 for Dallas.
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.
The teams were meeting in the playoffs for the third time in five years, with the Clippers having won both previous series.
Doncic and Irving were a combined 5 of 19 from the floor in the half. Doncic had all of his 11 in the first quarter; Irving had two of his six points in the second.
Terance Mann and Amir Coffey, who started in place of Leonard, led a Clippers defense that held Dallas to 9 of 40 field-goal shooting and 2 of 18 from 3-point range in the half.
