Meltdown costs Dallas Mavericks’ first chance at playoff clincher

That celebration commemorating the Dallas Mavericks’ 15th playoff appearance in the last 16 years will have to wait for now.

No such Hollywood-style ending occurred Sunday afternoon for the Mavs, whose third-quarter meltdown at the Staples Center made sure of that.

Utilizing a stingy defense and a patient offense, the Los Angeles Clippers put on a clinic in the third quarter and went on to post a 98-91 victory over the Mavs before a sellout crowd of 19,170.

The loss snapped the Mavs’ six-game winning streak and set up a huge showdown for Dallas at 8 p.m Monday in Utah against the Jazz.

The Mavs (41-39) remain in seventh place in the Western Conference standings, and the Jazz (40-40) are seeded eighth.

The Houston Rockets (39-41) sit on the outside looking in as the No. 9 seed, but they could still secure a playoff spot if they win their last two games and the Mavs lose their last two.

A Mavs win or a Rockets loss will clinch a playoff spot for Dallas.

“I think tomorrow is the game of the year if you think about where we’re at in the standings and who we’re playing,” said guard J. J. Barea, who missed Sunday’s game with a strained right groin. “Yeah, this is the game of the year tomorrow.”

The Mavs played Sunday as if they had a cushion to lean on.

Neither the Mavs nor Clippers could get much separation in the first half, which ended with the home team clutching a 49-47 advantage. Then, the third quarter started, and the Mavs’ game went totally south.

Unable to find a rhythm, the Mavs were outscored 27-12, turned the ball over seven times and made just 3 of 18 baskets — all in the defining third quarter that had them in a 76-59 hole entering the final 12 minutes.

“We just couldn’t hit no shots,” said Raymond Felton, who scored a team-high 21 points for the Mavs. “They started hitting shots, they made a big run in their building and we never could really recover from that.

“We still fought to the end, made it a game, came back, so you’ve got to take the positives away from it, go to Utah, get us some rest and get this win.”

Felton scored inside and Charlie Villanueva buried a 3-pointer as the Mavs rallied and got within 89-84 of the Clippers with 3:44 remaining in the game. But Blake Griffin negotiated a three-point play and Jamal Crawford nailed a conventional 3-pointer to bump the Clippers’ lead to 95-86 with 2:58 left.

“Turnovers were a big problem,” said coach Rick Carlisle, whose team had nine of their 16 turnovers in the first half. “We were struggling to get good looks and when you are turning it over on top of that, it makes it hard.

“Whenever we’d get within smelling distance they’d hit us with an and-one or knock in a three. They’re an elite team and you’ve got to be great to beat them, especially on their home court.”

Deron Williams returned to the starting lineup for the Mavs after sitting out eight games with a sports hernia and finished with 15 points in 29 minutes. But the Mavs had no answers for Jamal Crawford (22 points on 7 of-13 shots) and J.J. Redick (20 points on 8 of 10 attempts).

Carlisle said: “They were making shots and they were running around and they caused problems.”

The Mavs resorted to intentionally fouling DeAndre Jordan, who missed 17 of 23 free throws. It was to no avail. Griffin (17 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists) played solidly for the Clippers.

“The third quarter was really a bit of a killer,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 14 points. “We couldn’t really get much going offensively any more.

“Now we move on — a tough game tomorrow in one of the toughest environments obviously against a very long, physical good team.

“It’s going to be a fun challenge for us and we’ll see how it goes.”

This story was originally published April 10, 2016 at 7:58 PM with the headline "Meltdown costs Dallas Mavericks’ first chance at playoff clincher."