Clippers Help Dallas Break Losing Streak : Pro basketball: Los Angeles’ 106-87 loss is its first to the Mavericks in 12 meetings.

When Clipper Coach Bill Fitch and Maverick Coach Dick Motta began their coaching careers, most of their players were more interested in Big Bird than Larry Bird.

Point guard Jason Kidd, the Mavericks’ top draft pick, wasn’t born when Motta began coaching in 1968 with the Bulls.

“I wasn’t even thought about when he began coaching,” Kidd said. “I was three years off from being even conceived. Everybody says that he could be my grandfather, but I don’t look at his age or his gray hair. He can help me become a better basketball player and a person.”

Fitch, 60, and Motta, 63, the NBA’s two oldest coaches, are coaching two of the league’s youngest teams.

“We didn’t get together for our cup of Geritol before the game,” Fitch said.

But Fitch might need Geritol if the Clippers continue to play like they did in a 106-87 loss to the Mavericks on Saturday night before 17,578 at The Pond of Anaheim.

“The thing that bothered me tonight is I thought our defense could have been a little better,” Fitch said after Dallas shot 50.6%.

Guard Jim Jackson, who had 40 points in his last game, scored 31 points as the Mavericks won their second game in a row. Forward Jamal Mashburn had 28 points, including 19 in the first half, as Dallas defeated the Clippers for the first time in 12 games.

The NBA’s third-winningest coach, Motta has helped the Mavericks, who finished with the NBA’s worst record for the last two seasons, get off to their best start since 1988.

Dallas (11-8), which won only 13 games last season, is two victories away from matching last season’s total. Five of the Mavericks’ victories have come against teams that made the playoffs last season.

“More than anything else, (Motta’s) experience is really what’s helping this team,” Jackson said. “He understands the NBA game. The system that he employs helps everybody.”

The game marked the first meeting between Clipper rookie forward Lamond Murray, the seventh player picked in the NBA draft, and Kidd. They played together at Cal the last two seasons.

“The only time I can remember playing against Lamond was in practice,” Kidd said. “He’d be one of the designated shooters.”

Murray said there was no significance in playing against Kidd.

“We’re not matched up one on one, so what competition could there be?” he said. “I’m concentrating on Mashburn. It’s not like a contest out there.”

Kidd had five points, nine assists and six rebounds and played tight defense against Clipper guard Pooh Richardson, who missed all 10 shots he took.

Murray struggled, missing eight of his first 12 shots and scoring eight points in the first half as the Clippers fell behind by 17 points, 52-35. Murray finished with 22 points, making 10 of 25 shots.

He struggled defensively against Mashburn, who made 11 of 22 shots.

Troubled Dallas forward Roy Tarpley returned after serving a one-game suspension for a profane exchange with Motta in the Mavericks’ 115-108 loss to the Lakers on Tuesday at Dallas. The suspension cost Tarpley $36,585.

“Those were expensive words,” Tarpley said. “It’s over with. I’m through talking. You read the paper. You saw it on the news. I’m not going to go over it again.”

Tarpley had 21 points and 16 rebounds in 31 minutes as a reserve. Center Lorenzo Williams had a career-high 15 rebounds as Dallas outrebounded the Clippers, 54-42.