DALLAS — Chris Paul scored 23 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and he singlehandedly outscored the Dallas Mavericks in an explosive third quarter to lead the Los Angeles Clippers to a 109-90 victory Monday at American Airlines Center.
The Clippers, now 14-3 in their last 17 road games, rode the hot shooting of J.J. Reddick and the interior dominance of DeAndre Jordan to stay close in the first half, and then the veteran All-Star point guard took over the game. Paul scored 18 points in the third quarter, while the Mavs managed just 16 in a game that actually had 18 ties and 16 lead changes.
Los Angeles went from trailing by two at the half to going into the fourth quarter ahead, 83-68. Paul then started the fourth quarter with five quick points to increase the lead to 19. He finished with 27 points on 12-of-18 shooting, seven assists and three steals.
A little more than four minutes into the fourth quarter, the Clippers expanded the lead to 100-75, dropping a 36-10 run on Dallas after L.A. had trailed 65-64 with 4:53 to go in the third quarter.
Jordan posted a monster double with 23 points and 20 rebounds, plus two blocked shots. He had 16 points and 14 rebounds in the first half. He was 6-of-7 from the floor, including several alley-oop slams, and Jordan even fared rather decently from the free-throw line, going 11-of-19 as Dallas turned to Hack-a-Jordan on several occasions.
Jordan and Redick, who finished with 22 points, including going 4-of-6 from 3-point range, combined for 32 of L.A.’s 50 first-half points. Reserve guard Jamal Crawford added 15 points.
The Clippers, who continue to play surprisingly well without injured All-Star forward Blake Griffin, avoided consecutive losses, and crept a little closer to No. 3 seed Oklahoma City in the Western Conference playoff chase. The Clippers (41-21), now 1.5 games behind the Thunder, play at Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
Dallas (33-31), once with its sights set on challenging Memphis for the No. 5 seed, lost its third consecutive game with two of those defeats coming on its home floor. The Mavs fell back into a tie with struggling Portland for the No. 6 seed.
Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki finished with a team-high 22 points on a streaky 9-of-19 shooting. The 37-year-old had to be looking around wondering who was going to give him some help. He scored as many points as the Mavs’ other four starters combined. Dallas shot 39 percent from the floor in the first half and that mark only dropped, finishing at 37.0 percent.
Forward Chandler Parsons was 3-of-12 from the floor for nine points, guard Wesley Matthews missed all six of his shots, five from 3-point range, and finished with two points. Deron Williams had nine points on 2-of-7 shooting. Reserve forward David Lee also scored in double figures with 13 points, but on a less-than-efficient 4-of-11 shooting.
NOTES: Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said playing time for C/F David Lee, who has averaged 11.3 points and 9.0 rebounds in 20 minutes over six games since joining Dallas, will continue to increase, and mostly at center, cutting into starting C Zaza Pachulia’s minutes. … Carlisle decided not to rest any players for Monday’s second game of a back-to-back. With less than 20 games remaining, Carlisle said he hopes to no longer rest players on back-to-back games. … According to ESPN, the Mavs have the NBA’s second-hardest remaining schedule. … F Dirk Nowitzki surpassed 1,000 points for the season during Sunday’s game. Nowitzki has now scored 1,000-plus points in 16 NBA seasons, tied for the fourth-most in league history … According to the Clippers, G Chris Paul and former Lakers great Magic Johnson are the only two players in the last 30 years to average 20-plus points and nine-plus assists against Dallas. … C DeAndre Jordan made his second trip to Dallas since he returned to the Clippers last summer after initially committing to join the Mavs as a free agent. Entering Monday’s game, Jordan has averaged 16.3 rebounds per game against Dallas since the start of 2013-14, the highest rebound average against the Mavericks among all players that have faced them five or more times in that span. … F Luc Mbah a Moute missed a third consecutive game due to a left eye lid laceration. … The Clippers entered Monday’s game coming off a loss to Atlanta. L.A. had won eight consecutive games following a loss, dating back to Dec. 25 against the Lakers. The Clippers are one of three teams to have not lost consecutive games in that span (Golden State and San Antonio are the others).