Dallas Mavericks Defeat LA Clippers

The Dallas Mavericks improved their road record last night to 27-10 with a narrow win over the Los Angeles Clippers 106-100. The victory jumped the Mavs to half a game behind the Lakers, who are in second place in the West. The two teams will meet Thursday night and the winner will leave alone in second place.

The Mavericks were able to pull away in the fourth quarter with help from the Clippers. Two technical fouls on Mo Williams lead to an ejection from the game and free points for the Mavericks. Another technical against Blake Griffin gave the Mavericks more free points and control of the game. Eric Gordon said, "That gave them a good run and those were free points we gave them. They just got a lot of calls."

Technical foul not withstanding, Griffin had a good game. He scored 25 points and pulled in 17 rebounds for his 57th double-double of the year. He also set the Clippers' rookie record for the most points in a season, including six in a late fourth quarter run to close the lead.

The Mavs answered the run with J.J. Barea who scored five straight in response to push the lead back to 10.  Barea finished the game with 22 points and six assists. Jason Kidd had 10 assists.

Dirk Nowitzki snapped his streak of made free throws at 74 in the fourth quarter.