Kawhi Leonard finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as Los Angeles Clippers beat Dallas Mavericks in game seven 126-111 on Sunday to punch the ticket to the second round of the NBA playoffs.
Home win, finally
Clippers withstood a 46-point performance from Mavericks star Luka Doncic to take the Western Conference series 4-3, finally cashing in on home advantage after the road team had won each of the first six games.
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Marcus Morris scored 23 points and Paul George tallied 22 for the fourth-seeded Clippers.
The Clippers advanced to the second round to face top-seeded Utah Jazz with game one on Tuesday in Salt Lake City. The Clippers are the sixth team in NBA history to lose the first two games of a series at home and win a series.
Doncic continued his superb play in the series despite playing with a sore neck suffered in game four. He added 14 assists and seven rebounds.
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Dorian Finney-Smith had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Kristaps Porzingis finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Mavericks., who had a chance to close out the series on Friday in game six but lost 104-97.
At Philadelphia, Trae Young scored 35 points and Atlanta Hawks held off a late rally to beat the 76ers 128-124 in the opening game of their second-round series.
The results:
EC semifinals: Atlanta Hawks 128 bt Philadelphia 76ers 124 (Hawks lead series 1-0) .
WC first round: Los Angeles Clippers 126 bt Dallas Mavericks 111 (Clippers win series 4-3) .