LOS ANGELES – Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points and the Dallas Mavericks got revenge on DeAndre Jordan in his first trip to the city that he spurned, 118-108, over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night at American Airlines arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Mavericks came out with plenty of ammunition to start the game and jumped out to an early lead over the lackluster Clippers. A Chris Paul alley-oop pass to DeAndre Jordan quickly changed the rhetoric as the Clips surged ahead, feeding off the negative energy of American Airlines arena.
Dallas survived the storm and took the lead briefly in the second quarter before heading into halftime trailing by just one point.
The Mavericks dominated the third quarter, opening a 14-point lead on Los Angeles. Clippers head coach, Doc Rivers, went to his bench during the final few minutes of the quarter and back-to-back threes by Josh Smith and Wes Johnson got the Clips within six points heading into the final frame.
The Clippers carried over the momentum into the fourth quarter, recapturing the lead before Dallas resorted to the dreaded "Hack a DJ" strategy, sending the Clippers big man to the free-throw line.
Dallas took the lead thanks to some clutch shooting by Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki hit two consecutive bank shots, including a three-pointer with 1:05 remaining to give the Mavericks a 113-108 lead.
The game to a close as the fans inside American Airlines arena chanted "DeAndre Sucks!" over the final 35 seconds of the game.
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Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 21 points and 9 rebounds, Jordan had 9 points and 11 rebounds and Austin Rivers scored 16 off the bench.
Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 31 points and Wesley Matthews added 25 points as all five Dallas starters scored in double figures.
TURNING POINT
Mavericks center, Zaza Pachulia grabbed an offensive rebound with 2:07 remaining and picked up a foul on Paul Pierce before falling out of bounds. It got his team and the crowd charged up and Pachulia made both free throws to give Dallas a two-point lead.
MVP OF THE GAME
Dirk Nowitzki. The 37-year-old former MVP scored 31 points. His first 30+ point game since December 28, 2014.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Chris Paul recorded his 7,000th assist during the game, the fourth fastest to reach the milestone behind, John Stockton, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT
me watching the mavs whoop the clippers rn pic.twitter.com/EBdP6IrKJP — audrey alderink (@AudreyAlderink) November 12, 2015
Same.
PHOTO OF THE NIGHT
DeAndre Jordan tries to drown out the boos during his first trip to Dallas since reneging on a verbal agreement to sign with the Mavericks in the offseason.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
"Some day I'll let you read all the texts and we'll get into it and we'll talk about it, but now is not the right time," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said. "I wanted to play an old Meow Mix jingle for DeAndre Jordan's return to Dallas, but I won't."
NOTES
J.J. Redick left the game at halftime with back spasms and did not return.
RECORD
Los Angeles Clippers (5-3) (1-2 on the road) 2nd in Pacific Division
Dallas Mavericks (4-4) (2-2 at home) 3rd in Southwest Division
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Clippers have a quick turnaround as they travel to Phoenix to take on the Suns on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Mavericks will host the Los Angles Lakers on Friday at 8:30 PM EST at American Airlines arena.
