LOS ANGELES – Luka Doncic wanted to “make some noise” to let the Los Angeles Clippers know who the Dallas Mavericks really are, and he did just that on April 23.

The Slovenian scored 32 points as the Mavs battled to a 96-93 road victory in a tense National Basketball Association (NBA) Western Conference play-off first-round duel.

He combined with Kyrie Irving for 55 points to ensure that Dallas will head back to Texas with honours even at 1-1 in the best-of-seven series.

“We had to make some noise in the second game, you know, first game wasn’t our best game. So we had to come out here and prove that we can play with them,” Doncic said.

He also saluted the contribution of Irving, adding: “It’s amazing having him on our team. It just helps me a lot. A great guy and just happy that he’s here.”

Doncic and Irving formed a sublime double act in a hard-fought fourth quarter, orchestrating a crucial 14-0 run that effectively took the game away from the Clippers, who had downed Dallas 109-97 in Game 1.

After trailing for most of the game, Los Angeles threatened to snaffle another precious home victory after opening up a six-point lead early in the fourth quarter.

But the Doncic-Irving axis helped the Mavs regain control to set up a deserved win. Doncic also had nine assists and six rebounds while Irving contributed 23 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

James Harden and Paul George led the Clippers scoring with 22 points each.

Also in the West, Jaden McDaniels scored 25 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves dominated the Phoenix Suns 105-93 to take a 2-0 series lead.

McDaniels led a balanced Minnesota offensive effort that saw all five starters finish in double digits.

But it was the Timberwolves’ defence who turned the game in the home side’s favour, shutting down Phoenix in the second half to frustrate Suns stars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

Minnesota also scored 31 points off 19 Phoenix turnovers while the Suns took just two points from their opponents’ 13 turnovers throughout the game.

“We’ve had issues with that throughout the course of the year, taking care of the basketball and it reared its head again tonight,” Phoenix coach Frank Vogel said.

McDaniels added eight rebounds and three assists while Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley scored 18 points apiece.

Anthony Edwards finished with 15 points, eight assists and five rebounds and Karl-Anthony Towns had 12 points.

“We got a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said.

In Milwaukee, Pascal Siakam poured in 37 points to guide Indiana to a series-levelling 125-108 win over the Bucks in the Eastern Conference.

Siakam finished with 11 rebounds and six assists while Myles Turner added 22 points and Andrew Nembhard 20 as the Pacers claimed a deserved win.

“He just doesn’t get rattled,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Siakam.

“He plays the game at his pace. He was excellent tonight. His experience shows and he had a lot of big, big plays for us tonight.” AFP