DALLAS -- Like the Dallas Mavericks needed any more injuries at this point. Already without starting point guard Rajon Rondo for Monday's visit from the Los Angeles Clippers to American Airlines Center, the Mavericks lost both starting center Tyson Chandler (ankle) and two guard Monta Ellis (hip) early in the first quarter.
Neither Chandler nor Ellis would return to the game and the Clippers left Victory Avenue with a 115-98 win. The big story for the visitors was the 27-rebound performance by ex-Texas A&M standout DeAndre Jordan, a new career-high for the Houston native.
Jordan also had 22 points and postgame admitted he was sorry to see Chandler leave the game so early, but the 26-year-old big man also knows that wins in the NBA are sometimes hard to come by and no matter how they come, you need to capitalize.
"You never want to see somebody get hurt and I hope he (Chandler) is OK, but at the same time we got to be able to take advantage of things like that, and Monta (Ellis) went down on a little freak play," Jordan said. "Like I said, at this point we need as many wins as we can get. We just got to be able to take advantage of everything and keep working on us, not worry about other people."
The first question asked of Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle in his postgame press conference was about the status of Chandler and Ellis, updates which he couldn't yet offer.
"We don't have anything yet," Carlisle said. "We'll let you know."
Los Angeles was missing a marquee name of its own as Blake Griffin didn't make the trip since he had surgery back in LA on Monday to remove a staph infection from his right elbow. Griffin is expected to miss at least the next three weeks.
But even without Griffin, the Clips had plenty of big names step in to help fill the void, a list beginning with the likes of Chris Paul, LA's top scorer with 25 points, and of course, Jordan.
"It's tough playing without Blake," Paul said. "Everybody has to step up and do their part."
One bright spot for Dallas was the 27-point performance the Mavs got from Charlie Villanueva, the game's top scorer, off the bench. Dirk Nowitzki added 18 and Chandler Parsons finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
But the story was Jordan, who finished just three rebounds shy of the Clipper franchise record, a mark set back in 1988 by the great Michael Cage, who now works on the television broadcast of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jordan joked that maybe he got a good luck charm from veteran teammate Jamal Crawford prior to opening tip that might have given him the mojo to deliver such a dominant performance with his mother in attendance.
"Jamal gave me a longer handshake than usual today, so maybe his offensive firepower rubbed off on me a little bit," Jordan said.
Los Angeles also got 22 points from Crawford off the bench.
Clippers head coach Doc Rivers saw this victory, one which ended a four-game losing streak, as belonging to everyone who saw the floor on Monday evening.
"I thought it was a great team win," Rivers said. "We had all kinds of lineups. Guys were ready to play and that was good."
However, even with their win over the Mavs, the Clippers still have some unfinished business as they host the Houston Rockets on Wednesday at Staples Center, their final game before the start of the NBA All-Star break.
And it's an obvious statement, but LA definitely wants to head into the break with some nice momentum and a two-game winning streak.
"We've got one more tough one, and we have to be ready for that," Rivers said.
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