Clippers give short-handed Mavericks their worst loss of season

DALLAS —  Norman Powell scored 29 points, James Harden added 24 and Ivica Zubac had 21 points and 15 rebounds as the Clippers beat Dallas 118-95 on Thursday night in the Mavericks’ first game this season without star guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Doncic sat out with a left heel contusion, Irving with right shoulder soreness, in the first of a two-game series against the Clippers that will conclude Saturday night.

First-year Maverick Klay Thompson scored 22 points, his first game leading the team in scoring. Spencer Dinwiddie added 19 making his first start of the season.

The Clippers took a 50-49 lead into the second half and outscored the Mavericks 39-28 in the third period, hitting 69.6% (16 for 23) of their field-goal attempts while Dallas shot 40% (8 of 20) in the quarter.

Clippers guard Kris Dunn was ejected for committing a flagrant 2 foul against Jazian Gortman late in the third period.

Takeaways

Clippers: Los Angeles led in bench scoring 33-16. Harden was 10 for 10 from the line. Powell played the entire second period, scoring 10 of his team-best 12 first-half points. Zubac didn’t have a rebound during the game’s first 15 minutes.

Mavericks: Dallas shot seven for 30 on three-pointers for season lows in makes and percentage (23.3%). They’re 5-2 without Doncic, 1-2 without Irving.

Key moment

After P.J. Washington’s runner pulled Dallas within 73-68 with five minutes left in the third quarter, Zubac’s stuff began a 12-1 run, during which the Mavericks missed all four field-goal attempts.

Key stat

The Mavericks, missing a combined 52.8 points from Doncic and Irving, scored a season low and suffered their most lopsided loss of the season.

Up next

The teams meet again Saturday. The teams’ other two meetings will be a back-to-back at Los Angeles on April 4-5.