Mavericks ride 14-0 fourth quarter run to even series vs. Clippers

After the Irving triple gave Dallas a six-point lead, Kawhi Leonard missed another jumper. Norman Powell and Russell Westbrook combined for three offensive rebounds — and three missed putbacks. Irving followed with another bucket to go up eight.

While the Clippers were throwing up bricks, the Mavericks were nailing threes, including a go-ahead triple from Doncic over Kawhi Leonard.

It's the first win of the season for the Mavericks when they scored fewer than 100 points, having lost their other eight games. 

It's a testament to their greatly-improved defense since a midseason trade added P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, though the team leaned on rookie Dereck Lively and Maxi Kleber at center most of the game.

Arguably the return of Leonard also helped discombobulate the Clippers offense. Playing his first game since March 31, Leonard led the Clippers with 17 shots, but only turned it into 15 points, after going 0-for-5 from three-point range. He did nearly cut the Mavericks' lead to two points late, before a replay review overturned Kyrie Irving's foul on him.

The Clippers got as close as three points on two separate occasions after Dallas' monster run, three if you count Paul George's meaningless three-point at the buzzer to make the final score 96-93. 

But in a battle of two closely-matched teams, four minutes can determine the outcome of a game. Or even a playoff series.