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Buzzer Reaction
 Los Angeles Clippers |
 Dallas Mavericks |
MVP: Chandler Parsons came back in the lineup for the Mavericks Sunday after missing the previous seven games with an ankle injury. He led the Mavericks with a game-high 22 points, his most in over a month, on a night where seven Mavericks had at least 14 points.
That was … a humbling: The Clippers were awful tonight, especially defensively. Just terrible timing, considering how Doc Rivers got caught up in the critical side of defending DeAndre Jordan’s Defensive Player of the Year candidacy. Considering this game, it was the only defense the Clippers played today.
X factor: The Mavericks were curb-stomped Tuesday night at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they had two days off to get ready for this matchup. They got 61 points off the bench, including 19 from Charlie Villanueva, who will finish the season averaging 18 points per game against the Clippers this season.
— Law Murray
Tweets Of The Game
Clippers are 6-14 when trailing after 3.
Mavericks are 30-0 when leading after 3.
— Bryan Gutierrez (@BallinWithBryan) March 14, 2015
Deandre Jordan DEANDRE JORDAN drills a three https://t.co/5OSIqRIzhD
— Kirk (@KirkSeriousFace) March 14, 2015
Check Your Messages
Adjusting for the Metagame
The story goes that Rick Carlisle was late arriving at the NBA Competition Committee meeting yesterday, caused by how long the Mavericks’ practice had gone prior to it. With how dense and travel heavy NBA schedules can be, practice does not happen as often as one would assume, and for a team that has underwhelmed since the All-Star Break, it would make sense that Carlisle would want as much time as he could afford to prepare his team for the game ahead.
There likely isn’t a lot for the Mavericks to dislike about the end result of tonight’s game, whether it’s the result of the practice time or their fortune in catching an LAC team that looked tired and slow on rotations all night and committed more than enough live-ball turnovers to match. It also serves as a reminder that Rick Carlisle is one of the best play callers in the league today, especially with a team that has as many aging veterans as social media likes to joke that the Clippers do.
– Brandon Tomyoy
