There was a lot of talk about how the Dallas Mavericks were a different team entering the 2024 NBA Playoffs than the team faced three times in the regular season by the Los Angeles Clippers mainly because of the two trade deadline acquisitions they had in Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington.
However, both did not factor much on Sunday, as the Mavericks suffered a 109-97 road loss in Game 1 of the series versus the Clippers. Gafford, in particular, was barely felt in the contest. He played in only 14 minutes and provided just three points with zeroes in rebounds, assists, and steals.
Daniel Gafford Admits Lack of Effort in Dallas Mavericks’ Game 1 Loss vs. Clippers
After the game, Gafford came clean and said that he and some of his teammates simply did not have the type of energy that they were supposed to have in a playoff game such as in Game 1.
Via Mike Curtis of the Dallas Morning News:
“In all honesty, there were guys that came out that were ready to play & guys like me that was out there on the floor just running back & forth. I felt like I couldn’t commit to anything, give anything to the team at the time.”
As for the guys who showed up for the Mavs, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving were undeniably among them. Doncic had 33 points to go with 13 rebounds and six assists to lead the Mavericks, while Irving generated 31 points to go with seven rebounds, four assists,m and two steals. The problem for Dallas was that outside of those two, no Mavericks player really did cough up ample offense, with Washington being the only other Mav with at least seven points (he had 11).
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