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Mavs top Clippers late, take DeAndre's 1st post-reversal trip to Dallas

Eric Freeman

Dallas Mavericks fans ventured to American Airlines Center Wednesday night focused on jeering DeAndre Jordan, in town with the Los Angeles Clippers for the first time since his dramatic reversal in free agency this summer. They likely left the arena focused more on the strong play of their side.

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Down 106-104 after a Chris Paul three-pointer with 3:04 remaining in regulation, the Mavericks outscored the Clippers 12-2 down the stretch to dominate crunch time and come away with a 118-108 win that improves their record to 4-4. The turning point arguably came with 1:05 on the clock, when Dirk Nowitzki banked in this three-pointer to turn a two-point advantage into a two-possession game:

Yet Dirk didn't need much more luck during a fantastic performance that saw him score a game-high 31 points on extremely efficient shooting (11-of-14 FG, 5-of-6 3FG) and grab 11 rebounds. Guarded by Jordan for much of the game, the 38-year-old Nowitzki continued an excellent run of form. He is also now the oldest player to score 30 points, grab 10 boards, and make five three-pointers in a game.

The Mavericks also took the opportunity to call back to this July's epic Jordan-inspired emoji war in the wake of the win:

The Clippers have not responded as of this writing.

Somewhat surprisingly, interactions between the Mavericks, their fans, and Jordan did not get much more intense. Sure, Jordan was booed heavily during pregame introductions ...

... and fans offered more of the same whenever he touched the ball and cheered his failures. But animosity certainly did not come close to the level of LeBron James's return to Cleveland in 2010. Jordan was treated much like any other despised visiting player. He was a little surprised by the effort:

''They're obviously going to boo and heckle a little bit, but I thought it was going to be a lot worse,'' the 6-foot-11 Houston native said. ''Ultimately, we came out here to win a basketball game and that was it.''

Perhaps it was not worse simply because he didn't play very well. Jordan finished with just nine points (3-of-5 FG, 3-of-9 FT) with 11 rebounds, one block, two turnovers, and five fouls in just 27 minutes. He was also forced off the court from the 4:11 to 1:23 marks of the final quarter due to the Mavs' intentional-foul tactics. This was not the worst game Jordan will ever have, but it certainly wasn't one of his more effective nights. The highlights were few and far between, although he did have at least one:

On the other side, the Mavericks' eventual post-Jordan free-agent acquisitions performed quite well. Wesley Matthews put up 25 points on 9-of-13 FG (including 3-of-4 3FG) while Deron Williams added 13 points, six assists, and three steals as every Dallas starter finished in double figures. Given the opponent and context, this game was absolutely the Mavs' best performance of the young season.

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The Clippers will probably explain this loss as a particularly bad night, not least because Chris Paul finished at just 2-of-11 from the field for 11 points (although he became the fourth-fastest player to 7,000 career assists, too). It's usually not a great sign for the Clippers when Austin Rivers (16 points on 7-of-14 FG) is the team's best offensive player in the fourth quarter.

It remains to be seen how much the Jordan-Mavs beef will carry over to their next matchup on March 7 in Dallas. At the very least, we know that both teams' social media accounts will have their emojis ready.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!