George, Harden also played for Clippers in series against Mavs

DALLAS — The Mavericks furiously cut a 31-point lead against the Clippers into the fourth quarter with a four-point lead as the Game 4 fireworks began in earnest Sunday night.

In a classic back-and-forth duel between the Mavericks' Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving and the Clippers' Paul George and James Harden, LA managed to escape Dallas with a thrilling 116-111 victory and earn a spot in the best-of-seven. It evened out the series. They finished second despite being without the injured Kawhi Leonard.

Doncic, Irving, Harden and George combined for the final 34 points of the game with 5:03 left.

“It was a show,” Harden said. “It's like an elite, skilled, Hall of Fame basketball player going at it. And there's only so much you can do defensively, you know what I mean?”

Harden had his most important performance as a Clipper, scoring 33 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, and had seven assists and six rebounds. He made 6 of 8 shots in the final quarter, including five on floaters in the paint after finding the sweet spot in Dallas' defense. According to Second Spectrum, Harden had only made one floater in the series through Game 4, and had a success rate of 28.1 percent on 39 floater attempts during the regular season.

Dallas coach Jason Kidd explained that his team's defensive focus in the second half was to keep Harden and George off the 3-point line and survive on 2-point shots.

The adjustment in Dallas was largely due to George scoring 26 of his 33 points in the first half, including six of his nine from behind the basket. George, who had eight assists, six rebounds and four steals, also hit the biggest shot of the game in a game that featured breathtaking shotmaking in tense situations.

After Dallas took a 105-104 lead on Irving's brilliant drive that evaded three defenders, George managed to create enough space to close out the contest and hit a 3-pointer over Derrick Jones Jr. into the right corner. He sidestepped the ball to give the Clippers a 107-105 lead. 1:55 left.

“It's the plays and movements we work on over the summer,” George said. “And it's just you, the trainer, in an empty gym. That's the kind of situation you envision…Regardless of the arena situation, the crowd, the pressure, just being in the moment, it's kind of I feel comfortable in such situations.

“I just felt comfortable.”

Even though Irving made life incredibly uncomfortable for the Clippers, Dallas never got closer than three points the rest of the game. The dynamic point guard scored all 40 points in the final three quarters, along with seven rebounds and five assists. He hit six triples.

Despite suffering from right knee pain, Doncic recorded 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against the Clippers, achieving his fourth career playoff triple-double.

But it still wasn't enough for the Mavs. The Clippers had to expend a lot of energy to come back from a 55-24 deficit with 5:43 left in the first half after making 14 of 21 from three.

It was a great start for the Clippers, but they played the second game of the series without Leonard because he had trouble with inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee. Leonard gave it his all for 25 minutes in Game 3, but he didn't look like himself. He later said after he played 35 minutes in Game 2 that his knee didn't respond as well as he thought it would.

In the two games without Leonard (both wins), Harden was at his best, scoring 28 points and 33 points, going a combined 10 of 16 from behind the basket.

“This has been consistent throughout this series,” Irving said. “The two games where Kawhi doesn't play, we're kind of dealing with a barrage of James Harden and Paul George going down. So we obviously learned from what happened the first time, but we have to go through it. “I think it's the second time as a team.”

It's unclear whether Leonard will return for this series.

“When Kawhi isn't in the lineup, you know to some extent they're different players,” Irving said. “I don't want to discount their talent, but I think they play with a little more freedom and take tougher shots. I think when Kawhi is there, they try to play efficiently. ”

“Two straight games without Kawhi playing, we came into the game and I think we weren't prepared for some of the shots they took. Some of the players, they know their play is important.'' Their backs are against the wall and they're losing 2-1. ”

ESPN's Tim McMahon contributed to this report.