Mavericks Romp, Impress Chaney

Mark Aguirre scored 36 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 118-102 victory over the Clippers Tuesday night.

The Mavericks took the lead for good, 28-27, early in the second quarter and led at halftime, 54-49. But the Mavericks couldn’t put the Clippers away until midway through the third period. Dallas outscored the Clippers, 21-10, in the final 5:43 of the quarter to go ahead by 14, 91-77.

The victory was the third straight for the Mavericks, who are 31-6 at home. Dallas, which has won nine of its last 10, had just completed a 4-1 trip against Eastern Conference teams.

The Clippers, with the worst record in the National Basketball Assn., lost for the third straight time. The Clippers have lost 15 of their last 17 and are 3-34 on the road.

Rory White and Mike Woodson scored 23 and 22 points, respectively, to keep the Clippers in the game. Woodson scored eight of his points in the first six minutes of the third period, enabling the Clippers to narrow Dallas’ margin to three, 70-67, before the Mavericks went on their 21-10 run.

Clipper Coach Don Chaney said even in defeat, he saw some positive signs.

“At this point in the season, you just strive for the development of your younger players. We played very aggressive tonight and hung in there until late in the third period. We played hard for three quarters, and just seemed to fold. We don’t have the bench Dallas does, and that hurt us.”

Chaney said if there is any team in the Western Conference that can beat the Lakers in the playoffs, it is Dallas.

“Dallas is so strong, they can go to 12 players and all of them can maintain a high level of play,” Chaney said. “If they keep playing with this same type of intensity, they might just knock off the Lakers.”

Guard Derek Harper, who had six steals, scored 17 points for Dallas. The Mavericks outrebounded the Clippers, 49-47. James Donaldson and Roy Tarpley had 15 and 14 rebounds, respectively.