On Sunday, the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks got their first-round playoff series underway at Crypto.com Arena, with Luka Doncic and company trying to take advantage of their opponent who doesn’t have injured superstar forward Kawhi Leonard for Game 1.
Unfortunately, the Clippers got off to a hot start against the Mavericks on Sunday afternoon, with Tyronn Lue’s squad looking locked in from the tip, led by James Harden and Paul George.
Even though the Mavericks are headed for a Game 1 loss and the Clippers seem determined to make the best of their home-court advantage, Dallas had some added motivation in the building with Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki sitting courtside rooting on his former team, via NBA Latam.
Dirk Nowitzki present in Los Angeles 😍#NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/8DzXwK5xlO
— NBA Broad (@NBALatam) April 21, 2024
During his playing career with the Mavericks, Nowitzki was one of the best players in the league and went on to play 21 seasons in Dallas, which is impressive and potentially impossible to match with the way players change teams these days.
Nowitzki is the only player in NBA history to play 21 seasons with the same team, with Kobe Bryant playing 20 with the Los Angeles Lakers and Udonis Haslem doing the same with the Miami Heat, while Tim Duncan spent 19 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and John Stockton also played that long for the Utah Jazz.
As for Dallas, Doncic and company have a chance to make a deep run in the playoffs if they can figure out how to get the best of this star-studded Clippers squad, which is trying to get by without arguably their best player.
NEXT:
Luka Doncic Posted Historic Numbers This Season