The Dallas Mavericks with German basketball professional Maxi Kleber are still missing a win to reach the second round of the NBA playoffs. The Boston Celtics are already further along.
Thanks also to a strong performance from Kleber from Würzburg, the Mavericks managed an easy 123:93 win over the Clippers on Wednesday evening (May 1st, 2024, local time) in Los Angeles. Kleber scored twelve points in the first half with four three-pointers and ended the evening with a total of 15 points.
“I’m just happy that we won as a team. Of course I’m happy that I got so many shots today. But now we have to win one more to get to the next round,” said Kleber.
Dončić with 35 points
The best thrower of the evening was Luka Dončić with 35 points for the Mavericks. With the Clippers, world champion Daniel Theis had to watch from the bench until he came on four and a half minutes before the end as his teammates had problems with the guests, especially after halftime, and were down by 25 points in the third quarter.
In the final period, the Mavericks didn’t let up and temporarily increased their lead to 32 points. “For us, it just shows how good we are as a team,” said Kleber. “It shows that we can dominate as a team.”
The Mavericks lead 3-2 after victories and need four wins to advance. Game six of the series takes place on Saturday night in Dallas in Germany.
Celtics win series against Miami Heat 4-1
The Boston Celtics had previously made it into the quarterfinals on their way to the championship. Against the Miami Heat, the favorites scored the fourth win they needed to advance to the next round of the Eastern Conference, 118:84, in just the fifth game of the series.
The opponents are either the Orlando Magic around the world champion brothers Franz and Moritz Wagner or the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers lead 3-2 in wins in this series.