Chris Paul scored 19 points and chipped in 16 assists in the Los Angeles Clippers' 99-93 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
"We'll take the win, but we know we can play better," the Associated Press quoted Paul as saying. "We came out a little flat, but it's not going to be merry every night. It's a good win for us to grit it out and fight it out against a tough team."
Reserve Matt Barnes added 19 points for the Clippers, while Blake Griffin finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds to help his team to a 13th consecutive home win and with it extend their franchise-record.
It was a special victory for Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro as he won his 100th game in his 184th as a coach, but he was not satisfied with his team's defense, which had 21 turnovers against Dallas.
"It wasn't a very productive game," Del Negro said. "We weren't as consistent as we need to be. We had so many turnovers it was hard to get a rhythm offensively. When we're struggling offensively, we got to lock down defensively."
For the Mavericks, Darren Collison added 22 points and six assists, O.J. Mayo scored 17 points and Dirk Nowitzki finished with 15 points and six rebounds.
Dallas (13-23), who have lost five straight games, fell 10 games below .500 after almost 13 years. Last time it happened was in March 30, 2000.
"This is painful right now, to be losing like this when we were so close," Shawn Marion said. "It seems like when we get right there, we're going to do something to mess it up. We played a solid game, but it just seemed like the little things kept adding up and it killed us."
The Clippers outscored Dallas 25-21 in the first quarter, but the Mavericks fought back and outscored their opponents in the second quarter 29-27.
The Clippers entered the second half with a two-point lead, but at one point they were trailing by 10 points in third quarter. Dallas outscored Los Angeles 25-20 to enter the last quarter with a three-point lead.
Paul had a steal and a layup to help the Clippers again take an 82-80 in the final quarter. Then Barnes hit a 3-pointer to start an 8-0 run.
Nowitzki cut the lead and brought the Mavericks close to 95-93. With the help of a jumper Griffin again gave the Clippers a four-point lead. At the end, Paul hit two shots to ensure victory.
"In the fourth quarter, we needed to stay with the aggressiveness," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "But they turned it up and we just didn't get it done. We've got to keep working. We've got to do a few things better, get some more rebounds and knock down some more shots."
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