The Dallas Mavericks' 33-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night is officially a thing of the past.
But that's what happens when a team responds like the Mavs did on Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers, blowing out their Western Conference bunkmate by an even 30 in a 129-99 win at American Airlines Center that puts Dallas at 42-25 with 15 regular-season games remaining.
It was the sort of performance Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle not only demanded by expected after what he termed his team's poorest showing of the season on Tuesday night, a loss which he took full responsibility for.
"Well, we were due. We were due to play better. We were due to compete better and compete better as a group," Carlisle said postgame. "The challenge now is to sustain this and it's going to be a challenge. It's going to be a challenge but we made significant strides tonight."
Dallas was paced offensively by Chandler Parsons, who led all scorers with 22 points. Parsons finished 8-for-12 from the field, including 5-for-6 from long range.
Parsons set a nice tone early, connecting on three of his first four shots from the field in the first quarter and going a perfect three-for-three from long range to have eight points after 12 minutes as the Mavs trailed 24-21 after one.
However, much like the Cavs did on Tuesday night, this game was a completely different story after the first quarter. Dallas outscored Los Angeles 108-75 over the game's final three quarters to win this one going away.
Mavs reserve Charlie Villaneuva finished as the game's No. 2 scorer with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting. The Dallas bench, which was minus Al-Farouq Aminu (shoulder), outscored the LA bench 61-37, a big source of pride for Carlisle in his postgame presser.
"Barea and Harris, they brought energy and pace off the bench and we had a lot of guys that were really, really good," Carlisle said. "With Aminu not playing tonight, the way Villanueva and Jefferson stepped up was big time. That was really big time."
Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said in his press conference before the game that he fully expected the Mavs to throw a "haymaker" at his team after having two full days of practice following that blowout loss to the Cavs three nights ago.
And that's exactly what Dallas delivered to keep the Clips from sweeping the season series with the Mavs for just the third time in franchise history.
Dallas led by eight at halftime (59-51), but that edge grew to 13 after three and the Mavs outscored the Clips by 17 in the fourth to make this one a laugher.
"Yes, I thought they were into us," Rivers said. "You knew it was coming, but I thought we would handle it better. We did at the beginning of the game and it went downhill from there."
Los Angeles (42-24) was led offensively by JJ Redick who had 17 points and former Texas A&M star DeAndre Jordan, who had 16 points and a game-high 18 rebounds.
But for Carlisle, one reason why his team responded in such a big way was because of strong showings from every member of its backcourt.
And while the numbers for starting point guard Rajon Rondo (four points, seven assists, four rebounds, four steals) were far from eye-popping, Carlisle feels that performance is a great indicator of just how much more comfortable No. 9 is alongside his new Dallas teammates.
"I thought our guard play was tremendous. Our starting guards were really fantastic on the ball. Rondo had just an awesome presence in the game tonight at both ends. He's really developed a good handle of our team now," Carlisle said. "I love the way he played tonight. I thought Ellis was terrific (also)."
The Mavs, now 1-1 on their five-game homestand, return to the floor Monday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
