Final: Mavs 108, Clippers 82

Box Score | Highlights

Behind the Box Score

The Mavericks surged ahead in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 59-38 lead. Dallas is now 78-1 all-time when leading by 21+ at the intermission, per Basketball-Reference. It was also the Mavs’ biggest halftime lead of the season, besting their 15-point advantage last weekend against Oklahoma City.

Dallas hit 16 3-pointers in this, the club’s most in a game since hitting a franchise record-tying 19 on Nov. 18.

The Mavs are now 6-4 this season when holding opponents under 100 points and 3-0 when keeping them below 90.

Notebook

  • J.J. Barea had himself a day. The Puerto Rican vet had shot just 41 percent from the field in his previous four games, but he seemed to bust out of that slump today, finishing with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with 10 assists. He became just the third Maverick ever with a 20/10 game off the bench, joining Jason Terry and Nick Van Exel. This play in particular was really nifty.

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    Barea said before the game that he’s always played well in day games, and today was no different.

  • Dennis Smith Jr. was very effective in the paint today, which was good to see after the 20-year-old rook had a couple tough nights around the rim earlier in the week. Most promisingly, Smith finished two left-handed layups through contact for and-1s, which is going to be huge in his development. It’s gonna be tough for him to dunk over 7-foot freaks in the middle, but if he can absorb that contact and finish with his off hand, it opens up a lot of scoring opportunities and makes Smith’s job easier. Smith finished with 12 points and three assists.

  • The Barea-Ferrell-Harris-Dirk-Powell lineup still continues to play at a high level. It’s one of the best lineups in the league, and Skin and I try to figure out why on the latest episode of Numbers on the Boards. Those guys actually made figuring out the why a little easier today, finishing +12 as a group and putting on a pretty awesome display of passing on this possession.

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    The three guards can all attack and can all shoot off the catch. Dwight Powell is a really good rim-running center. Dirk Nowitzki is good, obviously. It’s gonna be really interesting to see how much longer these guys can continue putting up video-game numbers in terms of efficiency. They’re playing at an incredible pace.

    What’s Next

    The Mavs (6-17) will play the Denver Nuggets (12-9) on Monday at American Airlines Center at 7:30 p.m. Central.

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