The Fast Break: Mavs vs. Clippers

Final: Mavs 106, Clippers 98It wasn’t the prettiest game, what with a combined 58 free throws and the two teams shooting 20 for 70 from beyond the arc, but the Mavericks will certainly take a win any way they can get one. Dallas snapped a four-game losing streak with its second win over the Clippers this season, grinding out a 106-98 victory on a night when defense carried the day. (More on that later.) Dennis Smith Jr.’s return to action (more on that, too) seemed to give everyone some extra juice, and the result was the team’s first win on the second night of a back-to-back this season — and its first victory without J.J. Barea in the lineup. The Mavs have slogged through a beast of a schedule for the last month and have now finally reached a home-heavy portion which will carry them through the All-Star break and into the beginning of March. This was the type of game that, for many reasons, could hopefully be less of a slump-buster out of the last month and more of a launching pad to spring them into the next one.

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