Game Keys between Warriors and Mavericks

The Golden State Warriors cruised past the Dallas Mavericks without breaking a sweat in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, and come out as favorites to take a 2-0 lead in the contest on Friday night.

The 25-point lead at the end, 112-87, doesn’t even really show how dominant the Golden State hosts were over Dallas, dropping their record to 19-1 in their first Conference Finals game at home under Steve Kerr.

Luka Doncic was far from the level he showed in the previous two postseason rounds and if the Mavericks intend to come back or at least extend the series, the Slovakian star will have to score more points and get more help from his teammates.

By the way, Dallas is far from settled. In the previous series against the NBA’s best regular-season team, the Mavs left Phoenix 0-2 only to turn the contest around and advance in seven games. The problem is that the Warriors are not the Suns, and Stephen Curry and company know full well the instance they are playing.

If the Warriors want to go 2-0 from home

1.- They will have to stick to their clear game plan of isolating and making life miserable for Luka Doncic so that other players have to carry the team on their shoulders.

Doncic scored just 20 points in Game 1 after he came into the series averaging 31.5 points in the current postseason.

The Warriors put double coverage on Doncic seven times on Wednesday. The Mavericks hit just one of five shots for four points and one turnover on those plays.

2.- Many knew the Mavericks had to stop Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. But few imagined Golden State would have seven players in double digits in points, including two off the bench, on both sides of the court.

Kevon Looney, Green and Otto Porter Jr. played tremendous defense, and also combined to score 30 points on 14 baskets and 18 attempts.

Everyone is aware of the damage Curry can do with the ball in his hands, but it’s hard to anticipate that he would have 12 rebounds to lead the team.

If the “Splash Brothers” (Curry and Thompson) improve a bit on their three-point shooting, it remains to be seen who can stop the Warriors. Between them, they only scored four of 13 three-point attempts.

3.- It will seem very elementary, but in the case of the Warriors, the support of their home crowd has been fundamental. The previous two times they won the first two home games in a postseason they were champions: 2017 and 2018.

In contrast, no team has recovered to reach the NBA Finals after losing the first two games in the first three playoff rounds. Dallas already lost the opening two games to the Utah Jazz and Phoenix, and the first to the Warriors on Wednesday.

Anyone who has been to the Warriors’ house in the postseason will know how much pressure and distraction those fans can cause.

If the Mavericks want to tie the series.

1.- Luka Doncic will have to play better than he did in Game 1, including taking much better care of the ball.

Doncic suffered his worst game of the current postseason in points scored (20), field goal percentage and three-pointers made. In addition, his turnovers not only prevented the Mavericks from producing more points, but resulted in momentum shifts in the game.

For example, when trailing 38-35 with 5:53 left in the second half, Doncic lost a bucket that was immediately turned into a basket by Draymond Green to pull away 40-35 and never again get close to Dallas.

2.- The Mavericks need more presence in the paint and particularly below the rim. The Warriors scored 44 points in the paint compared to 32 for Dallas; 14 of Golden State’s points came on second offensive opportunities compared to just eight for the Mavericks.

Dwight Powell has always struggled down low against physical players. Neither he nor Maxi Kleber could ever match the pace of Green or Looney, much less their power.

It is difficult to win when the disadvantage in rebounds is 15 (51-35).

3.- Dallas needs to get better post-up shooting, especially when they have open shooting.

With 31 percent shooting from the field and 22.9 percent from three-point range, it’s hard to think about beating an explosive team like the Warriors, who also didn’t have a great night from beyond the arc, but still managed to make 34.5 percent of those shots.

Luka made just six baskets and shot just 16.7 percent defensively, his worst game in the NBA postseason. He went into Game 1 with 43.6 percent of his shots scored in those types of situations.