LOS ANGELES – The Dallas Mavericks achieved a 50-point gap over the LA Clippers on Sunday, setting the record for the longest gap in NBA history.
Playing without the injured Kawhi Leonard (laceration in the mouth) and Marcus Morris (knee), the Clippers could not do much in the first half and lost 77-27 in the break from their debut at home. The Mavericks’ 50-point lead at the break surpassed the previous mark of the break’s biggest lead – a 47-point lead from the Golden State Warriors over the Sacramento Kings in November 1991, according to Elias Sports Bureau data.
The Mavericks threw 58% of the field and buried nine points out of 3 in the middle. The Clippers scored a total of nine field goals and missed 18 of the 19 three-point attempts at halftime, their worst percentage of three-point goals in a single half in the past 25 seasons, according to the ESPN Stats & Information survey.
Paul George scored 13 of the Clippers’ 27 points at halftime. It wasn’t until George hit a 5:01 jump from the end of the second half that the Clippers reached 20 points for the game.
The futile effort in the first half came after the Clippers opened their season impressively, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers on their opening night and then defeating the Nuggets in Denver.