Kyrie Irving’s big night helps Mavs eliminate Clippers

KYRIE IRVING scored 28 of his 30 points in the second half and the Dallas Mavericks advanced to the second round with a resounding 114-101 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers in Game 6 of the Western Conference series on Friday night.

Luka Doncic recorded 28 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds for the fifth-seeded Mavericks.

Dallas will meet the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the next round.

“To be honest with you, I was physically tired and exhausted in that first half,” Irving said.

“Playing defence at a high level will do that to you. I’m just grateful for my teammates picking me up. We came into half-time and it was . . . 52-52, so it was anybody’s game.

“Then we came out in the third quarter, and I feel like we hit first and the rest was history for the rest of the game.”

P.J. Washington added 14 points, Daniel Gafford had 13 and reserve Dereck Lively II contributed 10 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks.

Norman Powell scored 20 points off the bench and Paul George added 18 for the fourth-seeded Clippers, who were without Kawhi Leonard (knee) for the third straight game and fourth time in the series.

“With our roster, we have enough to compete and be the last team standing, but health is a huge part of it,” James Harden said.

“The best ability is availability . . . For somebody like (Kawhi), he wants to be out there.

“He did everything in his power to be out there and compete with us. It’s definitely frustrating for the entire group that had a pretty good regular season and had high hopes coming into the postseason.”

Ivica Zubac tallied 17 points and 11 rebounds, Harden added 16 points, 13 assists and seven boards, and Terance Mann had 14 points for Los Angeles.

Dallas lost forward Maxi Kleber to a right shoulder sprain early in the second quarter.

The Mavericks shot 48,2 percent from the floor, including 12 of 36 from three-point range. Irving made five three-pointers and Washington added four.

Los Angeles connected on 41,5 percent of its attempts and was just eight of 31 from behind the arc. — Field Level Media