LOS ANGELES — If you didn't think Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and the Los Angeles Clippers were in trouble after dropping Game 1 to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night, you surely think so following their Game 2 loss on Tuesday night.

Doncic once again led Dallas to a stunning win in Los Angeles, putting up 39 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists on 16-of-29 shooting from the field in the win. His big night negated Kawhi Leonard's monster 41-point night on 14-of-21 shooting.

Paul George had himself a good night as well with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists, but that was also countered by a second straight big night from Tim Hardaway Jr., who finished with 28 points, five assists, and six 3-pointers on 9-of-14 shooting from the field.

For the second straight game, Dallas thoroughly picked the Clippers' defense apart, making them pay for every mistake and exploiting every mismatch as soon as it presented itself. The Mavs didn't let the Clippers off the hook for any lapses in defensive coverages, seemingly knocking down every jump shot they took.

“I don’t think it was tough shots,” Tyronn Lue said postgame when asked about the reason Dallas got so many decent looks. “Luka made some tough shots, but that’s what he does. But we had some game plan mistakes again tonight.”

The Clippers tried to play Luka straight up and tried blitzing him off screens. Doncic finished with seven turnovers, but his patience and control were on display for every one of the 38 minutes he played Tuesday.

“When you double-team Luka or when you’re blitzing Luka, it leaves other guys wide open. So going down the stretch the last five or six minutes of the game, we wanted to fire on him, give him a different look. He kind of had it going. They were trying to pick their mismatch in the pick-and-roll. And they tried to have Luka back down whoever was guarding him. They did a good job with that. But we had some game plan mistakes as well that we have to keep continuing to clean up.”

The Mavs present opponents with a pick-your-poison situation: Either make Doncic a scorer and take away his teammates or force the ball out of his hands and make his teammates scorers.

Through two games, the Clippers have done … neither.

Doncic is averaging 35.0 points on 50.9% shooting. Five of Doncic's teammates playing regular rotation minutes are shooting over 53% from the field, and Kristaps Porzingis is also shooting well:

• Tim Hardaway Jr. — 24.5 points per game on a tick under 63% shooting from the field and 64.7% from 3.
• Kristaps Porzingis — 17.0 points per game 48.0% shooting from the field and 44.4% from 3.
• Jalen Brunson — 12.0 points per game on 57.1% shooting.
• Dorian Finney-Smith — 10.5 points per game on 53.3% shooting and 55.6% from 3.
• Maxi Kleber — 9.5 points per game on 66.7% shooting from the field and 75.0% from 3.
• Josh Richardson — 8.5 points per game on 55.6% shooting from the field and 40.0% from 3.

It just seems like the answers for the Clippers lie in deciding whether they want to make Doncic a scorer or a passer and enforcing that defensive style. Too often, they're getting caught in the middle of both coverages, which is allowing Hardaway, Porzingis, and the rest of the Mavs' role players to heat up with Luka.

“I mean, we gotta get stops,” Kawhi Leonard said after his 41-point game. “That's what we gotta do. We have to get stops, we have to get stops, you're not gonna make every shot. It's the NBA, those coaches and their players over there, they're gonna make adjustments and get the ball out the best player's hands, or make it harder for him. But you gotta make them miss shots, we gotta play defense and shooting 58 [from the field], 52 from 3 is just not gonna cut it.”

The Clippers actually took a lead into halftime after scoring 73 first-half points, but were outscored by 11 points in the third quarter. Doncic and Hardaway combined for 24 of Dallas' 30 points in the third quarter, giving the Mavs breathing room.

“I think the mistakes we're making, they've just been crucial,” Paul George added. “I don't think they have missed many on mistakes we've made to bail us out. So, again, give them credit. They shot almost 60 tonight. They're making shots and if we don't dial in, if we don't honor the coverages, if we don't do a better job defensively, they're showing that we gonna pay for it.”

The series is only 2-0, and a win in Friday night's Game 3 would go a long way toward shifting the momentum in LA's favor. However, there's no denying the Clippers have let the Mavs' role players develop all the confidence in the world heading back home. That might be something that's too difficult to recover from, which is why George feels his team needs to try and shut it down quickly.

“That's the team that's the most dangerous. I'm pretty sure everyone expected us to win this, so they were the underdogs and when you're a lower seed you really don't have high expectations, so they're playing free, they're playing with confidence. I think we're giving them a little too much confidence, so that's on us to shut that down. But they're playing with it. They're playing their game. They're playing with confidence. They're making shots. The supporting cast of Luka is being aggressive and they're doing their job.”

If there's any positive to take away from the Game 2 loss, both Tyronn Lue as well as Paul George believe the Clippers are right there and aren't as concerned as many would think.

“It's a competition,” George said. “We got to rise to the occasion. Fact of the matter is if we don't, we're done for. But it's no level of concern. We just got to play our game. We got to play through this. We got to incorporate our defense. Luka's going to get his touches. We just got to do a better job defensively of just quieting everybody else.”

“I’m not concerned,” Lue added. “We gotta win four games, and you come in on an opposing team’s floor and play, there’s no pressure on you to make shots. You just try to come in and steal a game, steal two games. But now they gotta go home and keep up the same shooting. It’s easy to go on the road and do that with no pressure. We’ll see in Game 3.”

Given the well-known fact that no NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, Friday night's Game 3 in Dallas is easily a must-win. If the Clippers defend at a high level from tip-off, they'll likely win, remain alive, and force, at the very least, a Game 5 back home in Los Angeles. If they decide to play this level of defense in Game 3, it's a wrap. It's really as simple as that.