Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving lead Mavs to victory over Clippers 114-101 and advance to the second round

DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic had 28 points and 13 assists, Kyrie Irving scored 28 of his 30 points in the second half and the Dallas Mavericks advanced to the second round of the playoffs with a 114-101 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday at night.

Doncic endured another difficult night of shooting with his ailing right knee to do what the Slovenian star couldn’t three years earlier – close out the Clippers in Dallas in Game 6 of a first-round series.

The fifth-seeded Mavericks defeated the Clippers for the first time in three first-round attempts in the past five seasons and will open the Western Conference semifinals at first-place Oklahoma City on Tuesday night.

Paul George had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers, who won the first two times they played without Kawhi Leonard in the series, but didn’t have enough shots in the last two, he was sidelined due to inflammation in his right knee.

James Harden had 16 points and 13 assists, but shot just 5 of 16 from the field and missed all six of his 3-pointers as LA exited the first round for the second straight season.

Irving, Doncic’s co-star added at the trade deadline last year for the kind of playoff run the Mavs hope has just begun, gave Dallas its biggest lead with a flashy four-point play when he hit a 3-pointer tilted when he was run over by P.J. Tucker and sank the free throw for a 106-82 lead.

The Clippers responded with an 11-2 run to get within 13, but never seriously threatened a big comeback in the final minutes.

The Mavs broke a 52-52 halftime tie by outscoring the Clippers 35-20 in the third quarter — the same period that propelled Los Angeles’ Game 5 victory into a shot at clinching — and extended the lead to 20 early from room.

Doncic, who also battled an illness in addition to a sore knee, started 0 of 7 from 3-point range, falling below 25% for the series, but made his first attempt in the second half to begin his third-quarter comeback.

The NBA scoring champion was 9-of-26 from the field and just 1-of-10 from 3, while going 9-of-11 on free throws. Irving made 10 of 13 shots from the field after halftime.

Norman Powell scored 20 for the Clippers and Ivica Zubac had 17 points and 11 rebounds.

PJ Washington scored 14 points with some big 3-point shots for the Mavs, going 4 of 8 from deep, and Daniel Gafford had 13 points with several emphatic buckets from deep.

Dallas’ Maxi Kleber did not return after spraining his right shoulder while taking a hard fall on a blocking foul against Amir Coffey on a drive in the first minute of the second quarter.

Kleber, whose 3-point shooting was a boost for Dallas in the series, returned to shooting free throws, making one of two before coming up on the next dead ball.