The Los Angeles Clippers are set to kickstart their postseason run with a weekend clash against the Luka Doncic-led Dallas Mavericks. After ending the regular season with three consecutive defeats, the Clips find themselves as the underdogs for this first-round series. Amidst growing concerns about their star-studded tandem, Warriors star Draymond Green named the X-factor for the Clippers that may sway the series in their favor.
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Admitting to the recent struggles of the LA organization, the Golden State Warriors star discussed the potential defensive strategies that the Clippers can implement against the red-hot Mavs. In the latest episode of The Draymond Green Show, he outlined how the team’s head coach, Tyronn Lue, might need to put his best defender, Kawhi Leonard, on the in-form Doncic. This could pave the way for an unexpected scoring outburst from Kyrie Irving, who shouldn’t be underestimated as a scorer.
That’s when Russell Westbrook comes into the picture. Green expressed that this matchup could become the decider in the series.
“The X-Factor in the series is going to be Russell Westbrook. Because Russell’s gonna have to guard Kyrie Irving…Westbrook is the X-factor for that team. No surprise that they have struggled over the last month and a half because Russell missed most of the time….At some point throughout this series, Ty Lue is gonna have to scrap Russell Westbrook off the bench and move Russell Westbrook into that starting lineup in order to win this series,” he said.
The bold declaration remained justified following the outcomes of their clashes this season. Early into the campaign, the Mavs defeated the Clippers in an In-Season tournament group-stage game with Westbrook starting for the latter. At that time, the LA franchise was struggling to find a proper balance in the lineup and the Mavs capitalized on it.
However, the scenario changed soon as Westbrook became the sixth man for the Clippers. Following that, the organization won both of its regular season games against the Mavs. More importantly, during both of these clashes, the 2017 MVP came off the bench to register double digits in points while helping the team out defensively.
This added further volume to Green’s comments ahead of the anticipated clash. However, the Mavs are better too after the trade deadline. It will be certainly interesting to see the two teams clash.
