Mavs Lose To Clippers
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DALLAS — DeAndre Jordan and the Los Angeles Clippers can finally go home, and they do so on a high note.
The center demolished the depleted Dallas Mavericks for 22 points, an NBA season-high and career-high 27 rebounds and three blocked shots, leading the travel-weary Clippers to a 115-98 victory Monday night at the American Airlines Center.
Los Angeles closed out its drama-filled road trip with a 3-5 record and without All-Star forward Blake Griffin, who underwent surgery Monday to remove a staph infection in his right elbow. He is expected to miss at least three weeks.
In the Mavs, the Clippers found a team just as desperate to reach the All-Star break in 48 more hours. The Mavs were already without point guard Rajon Rondo for a fifth consecutive game due to a fractured orbital bone, and they lost both their leading rebounder Tyson Chandler and leading scorer Monta Ellis in the opening four minutes of the game.
Chandler twisted his left ankle after barely playing 90 seconds, and Ellis soon exited after bruising his left hip. Afterward, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said he had no updates on either player other than saying he believes Ellis has “some kind of strain.”
“It was a problem, the guy had 27 rebounds,” Carlisle said of playing without the 7-foot-1 Chandler, who ranks fifth in the league in rebounding. “(Jordan) looked like Wilt Chamberlain out there
playing in 1963, you know. Really he did. He played great, and we didn’t have any good answers.”
The Clippers, who got starting guard J.J. Redick back after he missed three games with back spasms, certainly were in no mood to empathize. They needed the victory in the competitive Western Conference race coming off five losses in six games, including a blowout defeat Sunday at Oklahoma City.
The win allowed Los Angeles (34-19) to avoid its first five-game losing streak since 2011. The Clippers slipped back ahead of the San Antonio Spurs for sixth place and closed the gap with fifth-place Dallas (35-19). The Mavs, meanwhile, are feeling very fortunate to have rallied from 11 points down against the Portland Trail Blazers in the final 2:50 of regulation Saturday to win in overtime.
There would be no comeback Monday, as Dallas’ thin depth was exposed without Chandler manning the middle. His absence provided Jordan extraordinarily open spaces to dominate the boards. For the fifth time this season, the 6-foot-11 Jordan grabbed at least 20 rebounds. Among his haul against the Mavs were 11 offensive boards.
Clippers point guard Chris Paul recorded a double-double by halftime and finished with 25 points and 13 assists. Sixth man Jamal Crawford scored 22 points, and Redick came back to score 15 points and sink three of four shots from beyond the arc.
Jordan tied his season high in points, accomplished just four games ago at Brooklyn. He shot 8-for-12 from the floor Monday, 6-for-9 from the free-throw line.
“D.J. was — I don’t know why people don’t vote for him (for the All-Star team). It’s too late, but my gosh, 27 and 22 is dominant,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “He was guarding guards defensively. He just did everything for us.”
Dallas hung tough through the early adversity thanks to reserve forward Charlie Villanueva’s smoking hot hand. He hit five of his first six shots on his way to scoring 17 of his game-high and season-high 26 points in the first half.
Dallas took a 40-38 lead, but then its lack of depth and inside muscle took hold. The Clippers rolled off 14 consecutive points midway through the second quarter and then closed out the half on a 14-7 run for a 66-53 halftime lead.
“They were angry, but we’ve been angry for three or four games,” Rivers said of his team. “We knew we were going to play well. I felt that way. I didn’t know (if) we were going to win or not; you never know that. We’re playing an excellent team in Dallas. But I just thought overall the ball movement tonight might have been as well as we’ve moved it.”
Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki, who said the team does not expect Chandler and Ellis to play Wednesday against Utah, finished with 18 points. Forward Chandler Parsons had 16 points and a season-high 12 rebounds, and J.J. Barea, Dallas’ starting point guard in Rondo’s absence, had 15 points and seven assists.
Dallas can only hope the injuries to Chandler and Ellis are minor.
“Obviously, it hurt losing two of our main guys and DeAndre played extremely well,” Parsons said. “He’s very active and athletic. Tyson would have been an equalizer on that, but we have other guys who need to step up to the challenge. DeAndre was great all game, but they had a lot of guys make big plays. We shot ourselves in the foot a lot with silly turnovers and bad shots.”
The Clippers can finally exhale briefly after getting the much-needed win against a short-handed foe. They return home to face the Houston Rockets on Wednesday to end their portion of the pre-All-Star break schedule. The long road trip was necessitated due to the preparations for the Grammy Awards, which were held Sunday at Staples Center, Los Angeles’ home arena.
