Tim Hardaway Jr.: 'It Would've Sucked' to Lose Game 5 After Luka Doncic Performance

Tim Hardaway Jr. seemed relieved Wednesday that the Dallas Mavericks took advantage of an incredible performance from Luka Doncic in a Game 5 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in their first-round playoff series.

According to Mark Medina of USA Today, Hardaway said: "With his performance, it would've sucked if we didn't [come out] with a victory."

Dallas went up 3-2 in the series with a 105-100 win thanks largely to Doncic's 42 points, 14 assists and eight rebounds in 43 minutes.

As Rob Perez of FanDuel pointed out, Doncic had a hand in nearly every bucket the Mavs scored Wednesday:

To Hardaway's point, losing likely would have been heartbreaking for the Mavs, and it would have been reminiscent of what happened to the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.

In Game 5 of the series between the Blazers and Denver Nuggets, Damian Lillard went off for 55 points, 10 assists and a playoff-record 12 threes.

Despite that, the Blazers fell 147-140 in double overtime, putting them down 3-2 in the series and one loss away from elimination.

Per ESPN's Royce Young, Blazers guard CJ McCollum addressed the loss after the game, saying: "It's a shame we wasted one of the all-time performances by not being more supportive for him."

Doncic didn't receive a ton of help either, as Hardaway was the only other Mavericks player to score in double figures with 20 points.

As he has so often during his young career, Doncic put the Mavs on his back—no small feat against a fourth-seeded Clippers team led by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

If Doncic can find a way to turn in a similar performance in Game 6 or Game 7, the Mavericks will be in prime position to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since winning the NBA championship in 2011.