• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Mavericks hope to get break from schedule vs. Clippers

Mar 31, 2008 - 1:10 PM Dallas (45-28) at LA Clippers (22-51) 10:30 pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Considering their recent woes against teams with winning records, the Dallas Mavericks have to be pleased to get a reprieve on Monday.

The Mavericks eye just their second win in nearly two weeks when they travel to the Staples Center to meet the Los Angeles Clippers.

Dallas finds itself in a three-way tie with Denver (45-28) and Golden State (45-28) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

On Sunday, the Mavericks started quickly before fading in a 114-104 loss at Golden State. With reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki missing his third straight game due to a knee and ankle sprains, Josh Howard scored 36 points in a losing cause.

The loss to the Warriors continued a predictable trend in which Dallas has lost to every opponent that owns a winning mark since February 13, when it defeated Portland (38-36). That win occurred six days before the Mavericks acquired Jason Kidd.

Since the arrival of the nine-time All-Star guard, Dallas is 10-0 against teams under .500 but 0-10 against teams above that mark.

With the Mavericks playing mostly winning teams of late, they have dropped five of their last six contests, with their lone victory during that time coming against the Clippers on Tuesday.

While Dallas is sliding, Los Angeles snapped a season-high 10-game skid, getting a career-high 39 points from rookie forward Al Thornton in a 110-97 home win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.

At 12.3 points per game, Thornton - the 14th overall pick in the 2007 draft - is the second-leading scorer among rookies, trailing only Seattle's Kevin Durant (19.9).