Clippers squander big lead before finishing off Mavericks

INGLEWOOD — The Clippers knew the challenges they faced on Tuesday night, starting with Dallas Mavericks rookie sensation Cooper Flagg.

In his previous two games, Flagg had scored 51 points against the Orlando Magic and backed it up two nights later with 45 points, nine assists and eight rebounds against the Lakers. The Clippers figured they were in for a similar experience from the hot-shooting forward.

So, they prepared by throwing a lot of bodies at the 19-year-old Flagg to prevent him from going one-on-one to the basket.

“I don’t think you can stop him. I think he’s gotten to that point where the game has slowed down for him as a rookie and he understands the floor game and how to play the game,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.

Whatever the Clippers did, it largely worked. They held Flagg to 25 points and nine rebounds, but they overlooked the rest of the Mavericks, squandering a 23-point lead and needing a late push to secure a 116-103 victory at the Intuit Dome.

While Flagg didn’t continue his torrid pace against the Clippers, he still impressed Lue with his skills.

“You look at the stats and he didn’t shoot the ball well, but his ability to attack the basket, get to the rim, make plays for his teammates and then with his size, having the ball-handling skills that he has … you try to make him see a crowd, play in the crowd and I think we did a good job with that,” Lue said.

The Mavs took their first lead at 78-77 on a 3-pointer by Klay Thompson with 3:20 left in the third quarter, followed by a layup from Ryan Nembhard. The Clippers responded with back-to-back 3-pointers from Kawhi Leonard and free throws from Bennedict Mathurin, closing the period on a 12-4 run to take an 89-84 lead into the fourth.

The Clippers took control with a late 13-3 run for a 112-96 lead with 3:15 remaining following a dunk from Mathurin and strengthened their hold on eighth place in the Western Conference.

With the victory, the Clippers (41-38) lead the ninth-place Portland Trail Blazers (40-39) by a full game with three games left in the regular season and a head-to-head matchup looming later this week in Portland. Both teams are trying to claim the more desirable seed for the Play-In Tournament (seeds 7-10) and avoid the 9-vs.-10 single-elimination game.

“We got a winning group of guys in this locker room and obviously want to take care of business the next few games we have, however we can,” forward John Collins said, “… whatever we need, our energy, to get that going into the rest of these games that we have.

“That’s sort of the mentality, just trying to get those winning habits to a better place.”

Getting to the finish line Tuesday night wasn’t easy. The Mavs didn’t back down despite Leonard adding to his case for All-NBA honors with 34 points – his 55th consecutive game of at least 20 points – on 11-of-19 shooting from the field (6 for 10 from 3-point range). He also had four rebounds and three assists.

Leonard didn’t play in the fourth, content to watch the rest of the team close out the 13-point victory. Darius Garland finished with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting, while Collins added 12 points, Derrick Jones Jr. scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Kobe Sanders also had 11 points. Brook Lopez had nine points and 11 rebounds.

On Dec. 20, Lue challenged his team to finish the season by going 35-20. Tuesday’s victory was No. 35 since then and one more victory in their final three games would assure the Clippers of their 15th consecutive winning season.

“It means a lot,” Collins said of the way they have salvaged their season. “There were definitely some dark times at the beginning of the season, just a lot of uncertainty. But we had a group of guys that stuck together, trusted our system, and we’re able to just muster up those wins.

“So, it feels really good. Just the 180 from where we were at the start to now, it just gives us more to fight for.”

The Mavericks didn’t put up much of a fight at the start of the game as the Clippers ran out to a 17-0 lead before Dallas could settle into any rhythm. Flagg finally got them on the board with a driving layup and once he got going, he had 13 points in the first quarter.

Lue said the Clippers’ aim was to keep Flagg off balance, not letting him find an early comfort zone. The Clippers did just that, keeping tabs on Flagg while building their 23-point lead.

“You know he’s a great one-on-one individual player, and so you got to kind of see how the game is going,” Lue said. “But we can’t let him get comfortable early either.”

And they didn’t. With Jones draped all over him, Flagg had to work for his 15 points in the first 18 minutes.

The Mavericks, however, didn’t need to rely on Flagg to get back into the game. As Flagg watched from the bench, Dallas found ways to cut the Clippers’ lead to 39-30 in the second quarter.

Collins hit a 3-pointer to push the Clippers back up by 12, but they couldn’t build any significant momentum as Dallas continued to muscle its way to the basket to pull within five 45-40.

Dallas outscored the Clippers 38-15 to eventually tie the score at 47 points with 4:15 remaining in the first half. The Clippers regrouped and regained a double-digit lead (65-55) by halftime.

In addition to Flagg, Dallas (25-54) had three other players score in double figures. Marvin Bagley III had 21 points and nine rebounds, while Nembhard and Max Christie each had 12 points, and Thompson scored 11 despite 4-of-17 shooting (1 for 10 from 3-point range).