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Nowitzki, Mavs seek fifth consecutive win

Dec 21, 2007 - 3:26 PM LA Clippers (9-15) at Dallas (18-9) 9:30 pm EST

DALLAS (Ticker) -- The surging Dallas Mavericks aim for their fifth straight victory when they host the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.

After an up-and-down start to the season, the Maverick are once again resembling one of the elite teams in the league on the shoulders of Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki.

The duo of Howard and Nowitzki combined for 54 points during Wednesday's hard-fought 108-105 victory over the rival Phoenix Suns.

"It's starting to click," Mavs swingman Jerry Stackhouse said. "Quite frankly, in those early games, we didn't get serious.

"We thought we were going to kick it in gear and we didn't. Since we got focused and lit a fire under guys, we've been pretty good."

While Dallas is starting to enjoy some success, Los Angeles just hopes to get out of its recent funk.

With several key players sidelined due to injuries, the Clippers suffered their 11th loss in 14 games with Tuesday's 80-77 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

Despite the Clippers' dismal start to the season, center Chris Kaman continues to dominate in the paint. The 7-foot big man has 20 double-doubles to rank third in the league.

Dallas has won five of the last seven meetings in the series, including the previous two.