Luka Doncic outscored Andrew Wiggins 20-19 in their head-to-head matchup in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Wednesday night.
However, there was no doubt who the winner was.
Wiggins harassed the Dallas Mavericks star into his lowest output of the postseason, and the Golden State Warriors countered with a balanced and high-percentage offensive attack en route to a 112-87 shellacking in the opener of the best-of-seven series in San Francisco.
Game 2 is scheduled for Friday in San Francisco, where Golden State, seeking its sixth trip to the NBA Finals in the past eight years, has gone 7-0 this postseason.
“We did what we were supposed to do — protect home court, win the first game,” said Warriors star Stephen Curry, the game’s leading scorer with 21 points. “We had a specific game plan coming in, and for the most part, we executed it. It’s going to take that same effort three more times to beat this team.”
The game plan featured handcuffing Doncic on one end and attacking him on the other. It was a two-way success.
After having averaged 29 points on 46.9 percent shooting in the opening round against the Utah Jazz, Doncic then stepped up to average 32.6 points on 47.6 percent shooting in the Western semifinals against Phoenix. On Wednesday, though, he was held four points below his previous low this postseason while hitting just six of his 18 shots.
He wasn’t alone in his offensive miseries. The Mavericks shot just 36 percent overall and 22.9 percent on 3-point attempts, missing 37 of 48.
“They did a great job,” Doncic said of the Warriors. “Of course we could do things better. In the first quarter, we had a lot of good looks. The second quarter, too. But not in the second half.”
Taking advantage of the Mavericks’ poor shooting, the Warriors never trailed over the final 45 minutes while taking a 1-0 lead for the third consecutive time this postseason.
All seven Warriors who played at least 13 minutes scored in double figures, with Curry and Wiggins getting plenty of help. Jordan Poole contributed 19 points to the cause, while Klay Thompson had 15, and Kevon Looney, Draymond Green and Otto Porter Jr. scored 10 each.
Golden State shot 56.1 percent from the field, led by Looney’s 5-for-5, Porter’s 5-for-7 and Poole’s 8-for-12.
Curry completed a double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds. Green added nine boards to Golden State’s 51-35 advantage.
The scoring might have been balanced, but afterward the talk was focused on one man: Wiggins.
“He’s just showing everybody what he’s capable of in terms of impacting the game,” Curry said. “He stepped up. I’m happy for him. Eight years in the league. This is his moment.”
Added Warriors coach Steve Kerr, “Wiggs was fantastic. Doncic is as difficult a cover as there is in the league. We just asked Wiggs to try to hound him, stay in front of him, keep pressure on him. He did a fantastic job.”
Doncic went just 3-for-10 on 3-point attempts, as did teammate Reggie Bullock, who finished with 12 points.
Spencer Dinwiddie had 17 points off the bench and Jalen Brunson scored 14 for the Mavericks, who lost Game 1 for the third straight series. In fact, they dropped their first three road games of the Phoenix series by an average of 19 points before stunning the defending Western Conference champs in Game 7 on Sunday.
“It’s one game,” Doncic said. “That’s what the playoffs are all about. If you lose by one or you lose by 40, it’s just a loss. We’ve got to move right to Game 2 now.”
–Field Level Media
