The Dallas Mavericks take on the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal-round series on Saturday afternoon.

The Mavericks (42-30 in regular season) closed out their regular season on a strong note to secure the No. 5 seed. Dallas won six of its last eight games and went 19-9 over their last 28 games overall. Luka Doncic once again unsurprisingly spearheaded Dallas' efforts all season, averaging 27.7 points, 8.6 assists, 8.0 rebounds and 1.0 steal across 66 games. Kristaps Porzingis (20.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 blocks in 43 games) and Tim Hardaway (16.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists across 70 games) are two other critical complementary pieces to the Mavericks' attack. Dallas finished the regular season averaging 113.8 points per game on the road while allowing 109.6 points per road contest.

The Mavericks will be without JJ Redick (heel) for Saturday's game. Maxi Kleber (Achilles) will carry a probable designation.

The Clippers (47-25 in regular season) dropped six of their last 10 regular-season games, but they still did enough to ensure the No. 4 seed and home-court advantage for this first-round matchup. Los Angeles was fairly consistent throughout the season but was heavily reliant on its superstar wing duo of Kawhi Leonard (24.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.6 steals across 52 games) and Paul George (23.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.1 steals). No other player averaged more than Marcus Morris' 13.4 points, with the veteran forward a very distant third behind Leonard and George on the offensive end. Los Angeles finished the regular season averaging 115.9 points per home game while allowing 107.9 points per Staples Center contest.

The Clippers will like list Amir Coffey (COVID-19 protocols) as no better than questionable for Saturday's contest.

The Mavericks won the three-game season series against the Clippers by a 2-1 margin, notching 124-73 and 105-89 wins Dec. 27 and March 17. However, the Clippers did prevail in last season's first-round series in the Orlando bubble by a 4-2 margin.