Clippers start road trip with 124-104 win over Mavs
DALLAS -- The Los Angeles Clippers got their season-long, six-game road trip off to a rollicking start with a 124-104 demolition of the sinking Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night at American Airlines Center.
The Clippers (14-2) are off to their best start in franchise history and left little doubt why against Dallas with a 68-point first half on 61.0 percent shooting from the field that included 64.3 percent -- 9 of 14 -- from beyond the 3-point arc.
Dallas (2-12), owner of the league's worst record, is off to one of its worst starts in franchise history while battling a slew of injuries to key veterans.
The Mavs finally got star Dirk Nowitzki back in the lineup after he missed eight games with a sore right Achilles tendon. Still, his return offered little resistance against LA as Dallas' losing streak reached seven games.
Early on, the desperation to get off to a fast start manifested in a hustling 15-7 lead.
But it was short-lived as Los Angeles slowly crept back from a cold-shooting first few minutes and made it 26-26 nearing the end of the first quarter.
Then reserve guard Austin Rivers canned consecutive momentum-swinging 3-pointers in a span of four seconds. He hit the first and then made a steal in the backcourt, found the arc, stepped behind it and drained another for a 6-0 burst and a 32-26 lead with 9.4 seconds to go.
Rivers finished with a team-high 22 points and was 6 of 7 on 3-pointers. He had made seven all season.
And that was all she wrote for Dallas, which continued to play without injured guards Deron Williams, J.J. Barea and Devin Harris. A 17-2 run opened a 15-point lead early in the second quarter and a 20-4 run to close out the half put the Clippers comfortably ahead 68-45 heading to the locker room.
The lead ballooned to 31 points in third quarter, allowing Clippers coach Doc Rivers to rest his starters in the fourth quarter.
Seven Clippers scored in double figures, led by point guard Chris Paul, who had 18 points and four assists in 25 minutes. Blake Griffin had 12 points, six rebounds and led the team with seven assists. DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and eight rebounds, and J.J. Redick finished with 10 points.
Off the bench, free-agent pickup Marreese Speights posted a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and sixth-man Jamal Crawford finished with 15 points.
Nowitzki was on an undisclosed minutes limit and finished with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field and six rebounds in 20 minutes.
Harrison Barnes continued to be one of the few brights spots for Dallas with a team-high 22 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field. Wesley Matthews had 18 points and Jonathan Gibson's garbage-time 3-pointer gave him 11 points.
NOTES: Dallas got some much-needed news s F Dirk Nowitzki returned to action after missing the last eight games with sore right Achilles. He has played now in just four of the team's first 16 games. C Andrew Bogut (calf) also returned after a one-game absence ... G Deron Williams (calf) missed his fourth consecutive game. He has played just 10 minutes in the last eight games because of the injury. ... The Clippers will spend the night in Dallas and attend the Dallas Cowboys' annual Thanksgiving Day game against Washington. "I don't know how these guys all became Cowboys fans, but they did," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. ... Clippers G Raymond Felton returns to Dallas for the first time after a two-year stint with the Mavs. Coach Rick Carlisle, who is struggling to fill his backcourt because of a rash of injuries, was highly complimentary of Felton before the game: "Felton played great for us and I wish we would have brought him back. ... The Clippers are lucky to have him." ... G Chris Paul entered Wednesday's game as the only player in the NBA since 1983-84 with at least 132 assists, 44 steals and only 32 turnovers in the first 15 games of a season.