The Dallas Mavericks continued to flex their muscles on their six-game road trip with a 106-100 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night. The Mavericks are now on a five-game winning streak and are currently 3-0 at the halfway point of their longest road trip of the season. Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 24 points, but it was J.J. Barea who was the star of the night as he scored 22 points off the bench. Barea's performance proved to be the turning point in the victory over the Clippers.
Blake Griffin had a man-sized game against the Mavericks as he finished the game with 25 points and 17 rebounds. In the previous two match-ups, the Mavericks had done a good job of containing the Clippers’ franchise big man. The rookie out of the University of Oklahoma had averaged 19.0 points, 35.5 percent shooting and 10.0 rebounds in the two contests against the Mavericks this season. He is averaging 22.5 points, 50.6 percent from the field and 12.1 boards against the rest of the league.
The Mavericks have won nine straight against the Clippers, including 15 of the last 16 meetings. With the 99-83 win at Los Angeles on Wednesday, Dallas recorded its fifth consecutive road victory over the Clippers. Dallas has now defeated the Clippers seven out of the last eight times in Los Angeles. Dallas now holds a record of 13-1 against the Pacific Division this season. The Mavericks’ one loss against the Pacific Division came against the Lakers on Mar. 12. The win also improved the Mavs' road record to 27-10, best in the NBA.
Dallas is gearing up for the biggest challenge of their six-game road trip, a battle against the Los Angeles Lakers. The game will be the final match-up between the two teams in the regular season. The Mavericks are not winning in a pretty nature but they continue to find ways to get victories. Thursday night should be a great test to determine whether the Mavericks are headed in the right direction or not.
Did THAT Just Happen?!
- The Mavericks had failed to score more than 20 points in the opening quarter in each of the past three games, yet they won all three games. They had averaged 18 points in their previous three games, but they were able to bounce back in a sense against the Clippers as they scored 23 points in the opening quarter against the Clippers. Unfortunately for Dallas, they had six turnovers in the opening quarter which led to nine points off of those turnovers. The Clippers had 28-first quarter points.
- The foul trouble that plagued Rodrigue Beaubois in the game against the Phoenix Suns traveled to Los Angeles. Beaubois collected four fouls in the game and that led to him only playing a total of 13 minutes. He finished the game with eight points and two rebounds. Beaubois had a night to forget against the Lakers in their last match-up, it will be interesting to see how the second-year guard will bounce back.
- J.J. Barea finished the game with 22 points and he got rolling as he came off the bench. In the second quarter, Barea had three consecutive trips where he got into the lane and finished off plays with layups. On two of the possessions the backup point guard was fouled and finished off the plays with made free throws.
- Jason Kidd looked rather spry and happy to be back in California. Kidd was getting into the lane and only had to play 29 minutes of action. He finished the game with five points and 10 assists. The Mavericks moved to 21-5 when Kidd records at least 10 assists in a game.
- Micheal Williams' streak of 97 free throws made in a row is safe again as Dirk Nowitzki missed two free throws against the Clippers after making 74 in a row. The 74 free throws dated back to the 1:01 mark of the fourth quarter of the game vs. Indiana on Mar. 4.
Box Score Revelations
- The Jet was not on the runway as Jason Terry went 2-11 for six points. The fourth quarter is usually his time, but Terry only shot 1-5 for four points in the final quarter. To Terry's credit, he was a valuable contributor as a passer as he finished the game with seven assists. The Mavericks moved to 20-8 when Terry records at least five assists in a game.
- The Mavericks had a rough night at the free throw line as they only went 15-26 from the charity stripe. The centers for the Mavericks had their own issues as Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood combined to shoot 0-7 from the free throw line.
- Turnovers have been an issue for the Mavs and the issue continued as they had 6 turnovers in the first quarter. Things started to clean up as they had two turnovers in the second quarter and finished the game with 11 turnovers.
- Despite Jason Terry’s struggles, Dallas’ bench outscored Los Angeles’ bench 53-29. Peja Stojakovic added 11 points off the bench. Brendan Haywood and Brian Cardinal had six points apiece. Coming into the game against the Clippers, the Mavericks’ bench was averaging 39.7 points per game this season. Dallas is 44-11 when its bench outscores the opposing team’s bench.
- The Clippers outrebounded the Mavericks 47-31. Leading up to Wednesday night’s game, the Mavericks had outrebounded their opponents in eight of the last nine games (Portland outrebounded Dallas 34-33 on Mar. 15). Shawn Marion led the Mavericks with nine rebounds.
Tweetings From the Mavs Universe
- "Tyson Chandler missed four straight free throws after Clipper Darrell's 'U-G-L-Y, you ain't go no alibi, you ugly' chant."
@espn_macmahon
- "As fun as it is to scream "It's morphin time!"....come on, Jet."
@KellieMVP
- "Mavs gotta grind on these guys in 2nd half...And I'll bet you a chalupa that the ft shooting will get better...(bet paid off by coupon)"
@CashSports
- "1st half Mavs basketball makes me want to stab myself in the eye"
@brendantime
- "Vinny Del Negro's hand gesture/"GO" combo towards Mo Williams after 2nd T bore strong resemblance to how I try to get my dog to go outside."
@rhylan_rowe
- "Miss Universe digging those last two JJ Barea plays."
@ArtGarcia
If You Don't Like What I Said, Read What They Said
- Rick Carlisle on the game and what allowed the Clippers to get back in it, "It started with Jamario Moon hitting a three. After that, they made a layup and get to the free throw line and all the sudden it's under 10. Then the building is into it and we had to answer. This is a good win for us."
- Rick Carlisle on what is causing the team problems, "Right now our nemesis is early turnovers. We had six in the first quarter for nine points and that got is off to a bad start…So, we’d like to get off to a better start in terms of efficiency with the ball, and if we can do that it will help us."
- Dirk Nowitzki on the way things turned out, "We wanted to get some momentum going into (the Lakers game). We had a good lead and didn't close the game out the way we wanted to."
- J.J. Barea on his night, "Well, I was just trying to attack every time and get in the lane and create for myself or for my teammates, and it worked out tonight."
- Jason Terry's open and honest take on the Clippers, "This is one of those we mark on the calendar. They're a bad team, it's not a good team, so we had to win."
BG's Baller of the Game:
Baller status has been granted to J.J. Barea. Right from the start, Barea used his aggression to get into the lane and it led to easy baskets for the Mavericks. The Clippers did not have an answer for the backup point guard and he took advantage of the situation. On a night where Jason Terry did not have his A-Game, Barea came up huge and he was truly the difference in the game. Plus, he's not doing so poorly with his game off the basketball court. Not many people can say they're dating a Miss Universe, Barea can.
The Mavericks get to stay in town for another day as they take on the Los Angeles Lakers, the back-to-back NBA Champions. The two teams will square off at the Staples Center for the rubber match between the two teams in 2010-11. It will be the first time the two clubs face each other in Los Angeles since Jan. 3, 2010 (Lakers recorded a 131-96 win). The Lakers have won nine of the last 12 meetings with the Mavericks. The Mavericks have struggled mightily on the road against the Lakers. Dallas has lost 34 of the last 38 match-ups in Los Angeles against the Lakers. The Mavericks snapped a 26-game losing streak in Los Angeles with a 110-93 victory on Dec. 12, 2003. With the 96-91 loss to the Lakers on Mar. 12, the Mavericks moved to 6-4 in their last 10 meetings with Los Angeles at home. Dallas is only a half-game back of the Los Angeles Lakers for No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
Twitter? I don't even know her! Oh......
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