Get ready for Tuesday’s NBA League Pass primetime doubleheader with five key stats to know about each matchup. The action tips off at 6:30 ET as the Nuggets look to stay alive in Game 5 against the Jazz. That is followed by a pivotal Game 5 between the Mavericks and Clippers with the series tied at 2-2 following Luka Doncic’s incredible buzzer-beater to win Game 4 on Sunday.
Game 5: Utah Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets (UTA Leads 3-1), 6:30 ET, NBA League Pass
- Donovan Mitchell enters Game 5 as the leading scorer in this year’s playoffs at 39.5 PPG. He leads the playoffs in pull-up 3-pointers made per game (4), has hit them at 55.2%, and the Jazz are scoring 1.44 points per possession when they set him a ball screen.
- Donovan Mitchell has scored at least 25 points against five different Nuggets defenders in the series. Torrey Craig has the most defensive matchup time with Mitchell (16:41); while he has held Mitchell to 5-11 FG and 2-7 3P in those possessions, Craig’s fouls have led to Mitchell’s 15-15 FT shooting, accounting for more than half of his 27 points in the matchup.
- In the Donovan Mitchell vs. Jamal Murray showdown, Mitchell has scored 21 points on 6-6 FG, 3-3 3P and 6-7 FT in the 4:58 that Murray has defended him in the series. Conversely, Mitchell has held Murray to 6 points on 2-7 FG, 2-2 3P and 0-0 FT in 4:14 of matchup time.
- The Nuggets enter Tuesday game looking to avoid their first four-game losing streak since November 2018 (Nov. 7-13) and first in the playoffs since 2008, when they were swept by the Los Angeles Lakers.
- Through the first four games of this series, the Nuggets rank third in the playoffs with 42.3% of their points coming from 3-pointers. That represents a significant change from their regular season play, when they ranked 23rd with 29.6% of their points coming on threes. In three games against Utah in the regular season (all wins) that percentage was even lower at 22.2%.
Game 5: Dallas Mavericks vs. LA Clippers (Series Tied 2-2), 9:00 ET, NBA League Pass
- Kawhi Leonard (33) and Luka Doncic (31.5) are 2nd and 4th in the playoffs respectively in points per game. 75% of Leonard’s field goals and 90.7% of Doncic’s field goals have been unassisted, up 11.3 and 9.8 percentage points respectively from their regular season marks.
- Luka Doncic is a single assist shy of averaging a 30-point triple-double as the Mavericks enter Game 5. Doncic ranks fourth among all playoff players with 31.5 points per game and ranks third in assists at 9.8 per game, which have led to another 24.8 points per game.
- Marcus Morris Sr. has had the most success in defending Luka Doncic in this series. In a team-high 13:46 of matchup time, Morris has allowed Luka to score 20 points on 6-15 FG, 2-3 3P and 6-11 FT. Doncic has only 7 assists and 7 turnovers against Morris.
- The Mavericks will be without Kristaps Porzingis for the second straight games. In the regular season, the Mavs had a net rating of plus-6.8 in the 893 minutes that Luka Doncic was on the court, but Porzingis was off the court. That Mavs have nearly matched that production in the playoffs with a plus-5.6 net rating in 86 minutes with Luka on and Porzingis off. The concern is when Doncic rests as the Mavs’ net rating drops to minus-5.0 with both Luka and Porzingis off the court.
- In the playoffs, Seth Curry ranks third in field goal percentage (65.0%) and eighth in 3-point percentage (56.3%) as he has averaged 16.5 points per game in the series, which is up 4.1 points per game from his regular season average. The Mavs have outscored the Clippers by 43 points in Curry’s 121 minutes on court, giving him the best plus/minus in the series.
