Clippers snap skid with overtime victory over Mavericks

DALLAS — The Clippers worked overtime to put an end to their four-game losing streak.

Darius Garland had a season-high 41 points, Kawhi Leonard scored 34, including a tying basket late in regulation, and the Clippers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 138-131 in overtime, on Saturday night, extending the Mavericks’ longest home losing streak in 32 years to 11 games.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 15 points with a pair of 3-pointers in the extra period, and Garland – who made a season-best eight 3-pointers – had 11 assists as the Clippers shot 56.7% from the floor and went 21 for 42 from 3-point range to salvage the final game of a three-game road trip. Their four-game skid came on the heels of a four-game winning streak.

The Clippers (35-36) pulled even with Portland for eighth place in the Western Conference. Both teams are safely in the mix for the play-in tournament (seeds 7-10), two games ahead of 10th-place Golden State (33-38) and four games behind seventh-place Phoenix (39-32).

Naji Marshall scored 28 points for the Mavericks, who are on their longest skid at the 25-year-old American Airlines Center. Dallas (23-48) had home losing streaks of 19 and 12 games during the 1993-94 season at the since-demolished Reunion Arena.

The Clippers thought they had a six-point lead with 1:28 remaining in regulation but a basket from Jones was wiped away after a video review because of offensive goaltending.

The Mavericks answered by tying the score at 120 on a putback from Marshall with 33 seconds remaining. A Marshall steal led to a fast-break dunk from P.J. Washington as Dallas took a 122-120 lead with 24 seconds left, then Leonard scored after a timeout to get the Clippers even with 19 seconds to play.

Rookie Cooper Flagg, who had 18 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and four blocked shots, missed a jumper in the final seconds, and Washington (21 points) was just late when he swished a jumper after grabbing an offensive rebound.

Garland’s final 3-pointer of the night followed one from Jones that put the Clippers ahead for good at 125-124 in overtime. A basket from Leonard and another 3-pointer from Jones put the Clippers ahead by nine.

The Mavericks led by as much as 12 points and had a 72-63 advantage at halftime behind 15 points from Flagg. Garland had 18 points at the intermission for the Clippers.

Leonard, who has alternated between playing and sitting out over the past four games while nursing a sprained left ankle, played 36 minutes, including all of overtime. The Clippers were without Bennedict Mathurin (toe) for a third consecutive game.

Marvin Bagley III added 17 points and Ryan Nembhard had 13 points with nine assists as the Mavericks shot 47.1% from the floor, while dropping to 2-12 since Feb. 26.

UP NEXT

The Clippers host Milwaukee on Monday at 7:30 p.m.