The Clippers defeated the Mavericks in a tight NBA Western Conference card battle to win for the ninth straight 120-111 victory. The small card had a great performance in the game, and Doncic's empty triple-double should not be overlooked. At the beginning of the game, the two sides always maintained a stalemate. However, the Clippers stepped up their offense in the middle of the period, with the Clippers scoring 10 points in the first quarter and Doncic contributing 14 points to the Mavericks. At the end of the first quarter, the Clippers led the Mavericks by 13 points.
In the second quarter, the Mavericks' offense improved, and Doncic performed well, scoring 14 points alone. Even so, the Clippers' Hardaway and Jones combined for a three-pointer to maintain the lead. At the end of the first half, the Mavericks were still trailing by 11 points. At the beginning of the second half, the Clippers suddenly lost their rhythm, and the Mavericks seized the opportunity to continue to steal points. Although Xiaoka and Wei Shao teamed up to resist the decline, the Clippers' advantage has been eroded to only 2 points.
In the last quarter, the two sides began a fiery attack, but at the critical moment, Xiaoka scored consecutive breakthroughs, and the Clippers won the victory with 8 points in a row. He played 37 minutes, 10-of-12, 1-of-6 three-pointers, and 5-of-5 free throws, contributing 30 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. In contrast, Harden was heavily defended, finishing with just 17 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 blocks, but with a bit of turnovers and a plus/minus of just +10.
Powell also performed well, contributing 21 points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench. However, Doncic didn't feel very good, hitting just 9 of his 25 shots from the field, 2-of-11 from three-point range, 28 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, as well as 1 steal and 5 turnovers, with a plus/minus of -4.
In addition, the Mavericks had four players who contributed double-digit points, Hardaway Jr. had 21 points, two rebounds, three assists and three steals, Jones had 19 points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocks, Exum contributed 16 points, six rebounds and two steals, and Hardy had 15 points and two rebounds. By the end of the game, the Clippers had moved up to fourth place in the West with the Kings losing to the Greens, while also recording the league's longest nine-game winning streak.