CLIPPERS STILL SLIPPING BLOWN OUT BY DALLAS AFTER FIRST-HALF MELTDOWN DALLAS 101, CLIPPERS 81.

Byline: Joe Stevens Staff Writer

Clippers players say they're left behind their troubled past. But Friday night, it looked like old times at the Staples Center.

The Clippers fell behind by 26 points in the first half, their largest deficit of the season and went on to lose 101-81 to the Dallas Mavericks in front of a crowd of 17,883.

After starting the season 14-5, the Clippers have gone 6-11 since and dropped their last two games.

The Clippers had an ugly start, trailing 37-21 at the end of the first quarter. Things got even worse in the second quarter, when Dallas continued to get layups and open jump shots.

The Clippers do not purport to be the most talented team in the NBA, but they do claim to play hard defense and bring an intense effort every night.

During moments of the first half, that effort was questionable. Not only did Dallas outshoot the Clippers, the Mavs forced nine turnovers. They also outrebounded the Clippers 21-18, even thought the Clippers came into the game as the top rebounding team in the NBA.

More telling than that, however, was that Dallas shot 55.3 percent to the Clippers' 43.6 percent in the first half.

The Clippers pulled to 83-70 with 10:33 to go when James Singleton converted a 3-point play. That was as close as Los Angeles got in the fourth quarter with Dallas going up as many as 25 in the fourth quarter.

Even with the blow-out loss, Elton Brand still had strong statistical nights. Cassell had 23 points and four assists, and Brand had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 26 points and 11 rebounds, and Dallas' reserves, which include Jerry Stackhouse, outscored the Clippers' reserves 44-18.

Dallas won a fourth consecutive game to stay one game behind Southwest Division leading San Antonio, which won in Miami on Friday.

After falling behind by 21 points and losing to Phoenix on Wednesday, the Clippers got a chance to rebound against another elite team in the Western Conference that likes to fast break. But the same thing happened again, and it got even worse with the Clippers falling behind by 26 points in the second quarter.

``The component they have is similar to Phoenix,'' Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said of the Mavericks. ``They have a power forward (Nowitzki) who's very mobile, who can take people outside and make shots and take them off the dribble. It puts a dimension on our defensive game that a lot of times we're not used to.''

But if Dallas presented match-up problems, that is nothing new to the Clippers, who are without injured small forward Corey Maggette. The Clippers themselves may present match-up problems to everybody they face because of the inside play of Brand and Chris Kaman.

Coming into the Dallas contest, Brand was averaging 25.0 points per game and 10.7 rebounds, while Kaman was averaging 10.9 points and 9.1 rebounds.

Kaman's development has been particularly significant so far this season to the point that Dunleavy said he feels his team has an inside advantage against any team the Clippers face.

``It's always been my vision,'' Dunleavy said. ``It's always been what I believed what could happen. The problem was I believed it before (Kaman) believed it. But I think he's getting the picture.''

Joe Stevens, [phone]

joe.stevens(at)presstelegram.com

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Photo:

Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, right, grabs a rebound in front of the Clippers' Sam Cassell during Friday's game at Staples Center. Nowitzki had 26 points and 11 rebounds in the Mavericks' 101-81 win.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer