DALLAS – In one of the oddest games of the season, Dennis Smith Jr. shook off the impact of a broken tooth Sunday night and returned in time to make the biggest play of the game for the Dallas Mavericks.
Smith’s huge block of a short jumper by Tobias Harris was critical as the Mavs prevailed, 114-110, over the red-hot Los Angeles Clippers before a loud and boisterous sellout crowd of 19,551 at American Airlines Center. It was the seventh straight victory at home for the Mavs and their ninth triumph in their last 12 games.
The win padded the Mavs’ overall record to 11-10 and vaulted them back into the eighth (playoff) spot in the Western Conference.
With the Mavs nursing a two-point lead and tensions running high, the 6-3 Smith found himself one-on-one five feet from the basket against Tobias Harris, who stands 6-9. Unfettered, Smith skied and blocked Harris’ shot, grabbed the defensive rebound, was quickly fouled, and then nailed a pair of free throws with 9.2 seconds left to account for the game’s final points.
In describing his major defensive play on Harris, Smith said: “They thought they had an advantage. They thought.
“Earlier, I had guarded him and he did the same exact move and they called me for a foul, so I just anticipated that he was going to do the same move again, and I got lucky and I was right.”
This game had so many twists and turns going on besides Smith getting his tooth broken. For starters, this was the first time Mavs center DeAndre Jordan ever played against the Clippers, the franchise he spent his entire 10-year career with before signing a one-year free agent contract with Dallas this past July.
Jordan responded with his best game of the year as he finished with 16 points and a season-high 23 rebounds. However, Jordan said there was no added incentive on his part to play against the Clippers.
“It was cool,” he said. “We had a good time. I thought collectively we did a great job.
“We started out a little slow, but then we got stops and we were able to push the pace and I thought our defense picked up and got us some momentum in the second quarter, and then we kind of hung our hats on that throughout the game.”
While Jordan was helping the Mavs to a massive 64-44 advantage on the boards, Smith left the game with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter after taking an inadvertent elbow to the mouth from Patrick Beverley that broke one of his front teeth while the two were on the floor scrambling for a loose ball.
“I saw the tooth flying out as soon as it happened,” Smith said. “It’s just a freak accident.
“I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sure that wasn’t his intentions.”
Smith said Beverley apologized to him. Beverley, however, was ejected from the game with 9:10 left after he tossed the ball and hit a fan sitting in the front row.
“I play within the rules, of course,” Beverley said. “I have never been ejected in my career in the NBA.”
Meanwhile, the Mavs played without two of their best players in starting forward Luka Doncic and backup forward Maxi Kleber. Doncic has a strained right hip and Kleber has a sore right knee, but neither injury is deemed to be serious.
Having to pull the rope a little tighter without Doncic and Kleber, the Mavs went out and received a season-high 30 points from Harrison Barnes and a season-high 24 points from J. J. Barea, who got his nose bloodied late in the game.
“Emotions ran high at times,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “But we got back to center and we kept playing.”
The Clippers (15-7) entered the game with the best record in the Western Conference, the second-best record in the entire NBA, and also were the league’s hottest team over the last 10 games at 9-1. But the short-handed Mavs withstood this physical challenge headed into Tuesday’s home game against Portland.
Ironically, both teams were 42-of-95 from the field and the Clippers attempted and made one more 3-point shot than the Mavs. The Clippers were 9-of-24 from 3-point territory and the Mavs were 8-of-23 from downtown.
Barnes tallied 14 of his points in the first quarter, which ended with the Mavs trailing, 35-34. And Barea popped in 20 of his points in the first half when the Mavs led, 62-58.
Then the game got chippy in the third quarter, capped by Smith’s tooth flying onto the court. However, Smith returned with 10:45 remaining in the game and was at the center of the Mavs snapping the Clippers’ four-game winning streak.
“I thought it was one of the best competitive things I had ever seen in a long time,” Carlisle said, referring to
Smith’s impact after returning to the game following his tooth being extracted. “With our manpower situation tonight we needed him to step in there and take on that huge defensive assignment.”
Smith certainly did that as he collected nine points, five assists, two steals and two blocks. He also, if he had one, would have given the game ball afterwards to Jordan.
“It was major to get a win for him against his old team,” Smith said. “You know it was pressure for him to stay there (with the Clippers), and of course there was some Clipper fans that had their opinions about him coming here.
“So we definitely wanted to come out and get a win for (Jordan). He competed really hard on both ends and it was a major win for us tonight.”
NOTES: The Mavs played Sunday’s game without rookie forward Luka Doncic and backup forward Maxi Kleber. Doncic strained his right hip last Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers, while Kleber has a sore right knee. “We don’t believe either is serious,” coach Rick Carlisle said. Doncic averages a team-high 18.5 ppg along with 6.5 rpg and 4.3 apg, while Kleber is averaging 6.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg, and a team-high 1.3 blocks per game. Kleber said: “I’m just sitting out today and getting (the knee) checked out so I can get the green light.”. .So how close is Dirk Nowitzki to playing his first game of the season for the Mavs? “He’s close, closer every time, but I don’t have a date,” Carlisle said. “He’s beating the interns.” Nowitzki underwent left ankle surgery on Apr. 5 and is expected to make his debut at some point this month. . .LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers talked before the game about what Mavs center DeAndre Jordan meant to the Clippers franchise over the last 10 seasons. “We haven’t been a winner yet, but we’ve done a lot of winning, so DJ is part of that,” Rivers said. “For me personally, DJ just means far more. We have a great relationship and he means the world to me. I don’t think I’ve been as happy for a guy because we sat down on the first day that I met him with this long list, and he thought I was nuts. I’m sure of that, but it was a heck of a list. By the end of the year, you’re going to be on the all-defensive team, you’re going to be these things. And these are none of the things he ever made, and he achieved most of them. And then he went on to make the Olympic team. So he did a lot, he put in the work, so I will be forever indebted of him.” Jordan left the Clippers and signed a one-year free agent contract with the Mavs this past July. . . Mavs coach Rick Carlisle offered some praise for LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers prior to Sunday’s game. “He does a great job every year,” Carlisle said. “Doc’s a great coach and he’s a great ambassador for coaches, players and for our game in general.”
Share and comment