Big plays by Harrison Barnes pump up Mavs, let air out of Clippers

Harrison Barnes shook off one of his worst games of the season to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a wild 97-95 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night at American Airlines Center.

Not only did Barnes hit the game-winning basket, putting the Mavs ahead 96-95 with a 19-footer with 1:09 remaining in the game, but he also stripped Blake Griffin of the ball with five seconds left and the Mavs clinging to a one-point lead.

The Clippers eventually fouled Wesley Matthews with 0.9 seconds left. He missed the first free throw and made the second to give the Mavs their two-point cushion.

However, the usually reliable J.J. Redick missed a wide-open 3-pointer at the buzzer right in front of the Mavs’ bench to help preserve the win for Dallas.

The Mavs improved to 31-40 on the season while keeping their playoff hopes alive. The Clippers dropped to 43-30.

Barnes scored just five points in Tuesday’s 25-point loss to the Golden State Warriors. But the five-year veteran converted 9-of-18 shots and finished with 21 points on Thursday.

“I have to give credit to our coaching staff,” Barnes said, referring to the steal he made on Griffin. “They scouted that play well before the game. We knew it was coming to Blake and he was going to try to make a play. I just tried to play good defense and I was in the right spot at the right time.”

Seth Curry also broke out of a slump as he collected a game-high 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Curry, who had 10 points against the Warriors, made 3-of-6 baskets from beyond the 3-point arc.

Also for the Mavs, Dirk Nowitzki poured in 14 points.

Nerlens Noel started his second game with the Mavs, and the strategy appeared to have worked. Noel wound up with eight points, 12 rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 32 minutes and more than held his ground against Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, who finished the night with 14 points, 18 rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 21 points while Chris Paul (15 points, six assists) and Austin Rivers (13 points) provided aid.

The Clippers went on a torrid 22-4 run in the last five minutes of the second quarter and went into the dressing room nursing a 54-48 lead. But midway through the third quarter the game started to slow.

Mavs guard J.J. Barea was assessed a flagrant foul-2 and automatic ejection after he swung and made contract with Griffin, who fell to the floor. Barea left the court to a rousing ovation.

Later on, Paul was charged with a technical foul. Then, as things started heating up some more, Devin Harris put Jamal Crawford in a spin cycle on the left baseline and fed Noel for an alley-oop dunk which pushed the Mavs ahead 86-84 with 7:26 remaining in the game.

On moving from power forward to small forward to make room for Noel, Barnes said: “It’s great. I have a little bit more energy from not banging with as many bigs. Nerlens gives us that big presence that we need blocking shots, getting rebounds and finishing in the paint.”

This story was originally published March 23, 2017 at 10:57 PM with the headline "Big plays by Harrison Barnes pump up Mavs, let air out of Clippers."