SAN FRANCISCO — Steve Kerr and Draymond Green both said it Thursday, in separate conversations. Facing Luka Doncic and Dallas is reminiscent of the last time Golden State faced a Texas team in the Western Conference finals.
It was 2018. Against James Harden and the Houston Rockets.
As in that series, the Warriors have a 1-0 lead entering Friday night’s Game 2 in the Chase Center, after throttling the Mavericks by 25 points in Thursday’s opener while limiting Doncic to 20 points on 6-of-18 shooting.
Four years ago, in what would be Golden State’s most recent NBA title run, the Warriors lost Games 2, 4 and 5 and had to overcome a 3-2 series deficit.
Dallas had best win Friday night because, even though the Mavericks overcame a 2-0 deficit to upset No. 1 seed Phoenix in the conference semifinals, a repeat against a Warriors team led by three-time champions Green, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson would be a longshot.
“The matchup is similar,” Kerr said. “I’m not sure how helpful that is. We have a very different team now compared to four years ago, but it does remind me. Luka and James, there a similar pressure that you feel on every possession where they can create an easy shot for their teammate or themselves.”
The Mavericks aren’t as playoff-savvy as some of the Warriors, who are making their sixth conference finals appearance in eight years, but this is familiar territory for Dallas.
The Mavericks also lost their series openers against Utah and Phoenix. And Wednesday’s loss was the 11th defeat of 20 or more points this season for Dallas. On the previous 10 occasions, Dallas responded with wins in its next game, including Games 3 and 6 against the Suns.
At the least, the Mavericks are well overdue for a close game. In their 14 postseason games, there has been only 3.2 seconds of clutch time — that is, a five-point margin during the final five minutes.
It happened in Game 1 against the Suns, when they pulled within 119-114 with 10.5 seconds left, only to see Phoenix extend the lead with 7.2 seconds left.
“There’s not a big adjustment,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said Thursday, when asked what his team needs to do better in Game 2, beyond the obvious of shooting better than the 11 of 48 from 3-point distance that it shot in Game 1. And not getting outrebounded 51-35 again.
“Sometimes it’s just playing harder and doing things better,” he added. “Adjustments are sometimes blown out of proportion, but we know we have to make shots and we have to rebound the ball better.”
The Mavericks also need to play better defense than they have for the most part on the road this postseason.
In six home games Dallas is allowing averages of 93.5 points, 43.1% field-goal shooting and 32.2% 3-point shooting.
In eight road playoff games the Mavericks are allowing averages 109.5 points, 49.5% shooting and 35.0% 3-point shooting.
“It’s hard to win on the road,” said Kidd, whose team nevertheless is 3-5 on the road this postseason. “There’s four teams left and they’re all good. They’ve all protected home. It’s hard to win on the road, but we believe our defense hopefully can travel and be better in Game 2.”
The Warriors know that Doncic is likely to improve his Game 1 output, regardless of how many defensive looks they throw at him.
In 2018, Harden averaged 28.7 points, 6.0 assists and 5.6 rebounds in the conference finals, but in Games 6 and 7 Golden State limited him to a combined 22-of-53 shooting, including 6-of-25 shooting from 3-point range.
“A lot of similarities,” Green said. “You’ve got one guy who has the ball a lot and he makes plays for everybody and he is incredible at doing it. You have a bunch of guys that can shoot the lights out of the ball.
“And that guy is good enough to find them, no matter where he is on the floor what position he is and how many people are around him.”
Kerr compared Doncic’s step-back 3-pointer and abilities to get to the rim and to draw fouls to Harden’s attributes. That is, the Harden of four years ago, not the Harden who flamed out of the playoffs with Philadelphia this season.
Green also briefly compared Doncic to another star that Golden State faced in the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals: LeBron James.
“I think I think Luka kind of manages a game like LeBron in a sense,” Green said. “But the way that he plays and the way James [Harden] played and the way that Houston Rockets team played, there’s a lot of similarities.”
For that reason, Green expects not only Doncic’s shooting to improve in Game 2, but that of his Mavericks teammates.
Dallas shot 3 of 19 on 3-point attempts in the first quarter of Game 1 alone, but Green noted that a lot of those misses were open looks.
“Everybody knew they were built that way,” he said. “Usually you don’t just get to the Western Conference finals not being elite at what you do. And they are elite at what they do.
“They create open shots and they knock them down. They missed them last night. We’ve got to do a better job defensively and not giving up so many open ones.”
