Mavs top Clippers, Jordan gets booed
Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 31 points Wednesday night to lead Dallas to a 118-108 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in DeAndre Jordan’s first visit to Dallas since backing out on an agreement to sign with the Mavericks in free agency.
A tight second half upstaged the sideshow of the return of Jordan, who was booed throughout before head coach Doc Rivers pulled him in the fourth quarter with Dallas successfully using the hack-a-Jordan tactic against one of the NBA’s worst free-throw shooters.
Zaza Pachulia, the consolation prize at center after Dallas didn’t land Jordan, made two free throws to put Dallas ahead for good at 108-106.
As Dallas took control in the final minute, the crowd chanted a derogatory phrase at Jordan, who had nine points and 11 rebounds with a minus-23 scoring margin while he was in the game.
Wesley Matthews, the free agent who kept his pledge to Dallas, also had a season high with 25 points.
Nowitzki was 11-for-14 from the field.
Blake Griffin led Los Angeles with 21 points, and Austin Rivers added 16.
Jordan was booed during pregame shooting free throws, and cheered when he missed. Even when he touched the ball briefly on offense, the howls came quickly. And they grew loud whenever he kept it.
That was the hope of owner Mark Cuban, who slipped a couple of times during his usual pregame media session by using Jordan’s first name. Otherwise, he stuck with his mantra of not using Jordan’s name after the Houston native shunned the billionaire in the hours after changing his mind.
They still haven’t spoken, but Cuban is trying to sound as if he’s moved on — even though he said he saved the text messages from the saga that unfolded during the summer.
“It’s not like DeAndre and I pinky-swore,” said Cuban, who decided against showing several parody videos prepared for Jordan’s visit. “It’s not like we’ve been friends forever. It’s not like he broke some trust we had.”
Spurs 113, Blazers 101: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 23 points in his return to Portland, leading San Antonio to its third straight win. Aldridge, who played nine seasons in Portland before leaving as a free agent in the summer, added six rebounds. Damian Lillard led the Blazers with 22 points and nine assists.
Kings 101, Pistons 92: DeMarcus Cousins had 33 points and nine rebounds, Rajon Rondo had a tripledouble, and host Sacramento snapped a six-game losing streak. Rudy Gay scored 12 of his 25 points in the first quarter for the Kings. Rondo finished with 14 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds. Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris each had 16 points for Detroit, which got 14 points and 17 rebounds from Andre Drummond.
Hawks 106, Pelicans 98: Al Horford scored 26 points and host Atlanta rallied past injury-depleted New Orleans, which led much of the way but couldn’t prevail without Anthony Davis. Eric Gordon led the Pelicans
with 26 points.
Nuggets 103, Bucks 102: Kenneth Faried rebounded Danilo Gallinari’s errant shot in the lane for a putback with five seconds remaining to give host Denver the win. Gallinari had 25 points to lead the Nuggets, and Faried finished with 19.
Raptors 119, 76ers 103: Kyle Lowry scored 23 points and Luis Scola had 21 to lead visiting Toronto over winless Philadelphia. The Sixers started 0-17 last season, and have lost 18 straight games dating to March 27.
Magic 101, Lakers 99: Nik Vucevic hit a fallaway 18-footer at the buzzer for host Orlando, which was led by Shabazz Napier’s 22 points. Magic guard Victor Oladipo left the game in the first quarter with a concussion and did not return. Los Angeles had six players in double figures, but Kobe Bryant missed his second straight game.
Hornets 95, Knicks 93: Cody Zeller scored on a layup off an inbounds play with 0.6 of a second left for host Charlotte and Kristaps Porzingis’ three-pointer at the buzzer for New York was ruled too late. Carmelo Anthony had a game-high 29 points for the Knicks.
Pacers 102, Celtics 91: Paul George scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead visiting Indiana. Evan Turner led Boston with 20 points. Isaiah Thomas had 14 and Jared Sullinger scored 11 with 11 rebounds.
Nets 106, Rockets 98: Bojan Bogdanovic scored a season-high 22 points with nine rebounds to lead visiting Brooklyn to its first victory of the season. James Harden had 23 points for Houston, which had won four straight.