George, Harden deliver as Clippers even series with Mavs - ESPN

DALLAS — The Mavericks furiously cut a 31-point Clippers lead to four entering the fourth quarter Sunday night when the Game 4 fireworks truly got underway.

In a back-and-forth classic duel between the Mavericks' Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving and the Clippers' Paul George and James Harden, LA somehow managed to escape Dallas with a thrilling 116-111 win to even this best-of-seven series at 2 despite not having the injured Kawhi Leonard.

In the last 5:03, Doncic, Irving, Harden and George combined to score the final 34 points of the game.

«It was a show,» Harden said. «Like elite, skilled, Hall of Fame basketball players going at it. And it's only so much you can do defensively, you know what I mean?»

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Harden delivered his most crucial performance as a Clipper, scoring 33 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, to go with seven assists and six rebounds. He made 6 of 8 shots in the final quarter, five coming on floaters in the paint after he found a sweet spot in the Dallas defense. Harden had made just one floater in the series prior to Game 4 and shot 28.1% on 39 floaters attempted in the regular season, according to Second Spectrum.

Dallas coach Jason Kidd explained that his team's defensive focus in the second half was to run Harden and George off the 3-point line and to settle for living with two-point shots.

A major reason