Clippers Can’t Knock It Down

Everything is going according to plan for the Clippers to drop to the sixth-seeded position in the Western Conference playoffs.

Oh, that’s not their plan?

The Clippers had hoped to finish strong and secure the highest seeding possible, but they continued to stumble to the finish Monday night in a 75-73 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at Staples Center.

Forward Dirk Nowitzki made a 16-foot fadeaway jumper for the go-ahead score with seven-tenths of a second remaining in the game, helping the Mavericks hold off the Clippers’ late rally.

The Clippers’ last chance to tie the score failed when the Mavericks broke up Shaun Livingston’s attempted in-bounds pass to James Singleton as time expired.

Despite limiting the Mavericks to 25 points in the second half, the Clippers (44-33) lost their third in a row. Corey Maggette is sidelined indefinitely because of back spasms, and Vladimir Radmanovic, who has a groin injury, and Sam Cassell, who had flu-like symptoms, played only briefly.

The Clippers have the same record as the Memphis Grizzlies, but trail in the tiebreaker and would be seeded sixth if the playoffs began today.

Some in the media have suggested it might benefit the Clippers to lose and finish sixth. As the theory goes, the Clippers would be better off dropping to avoid an opening-round matchup against the fourth-place team, either the Mavericks or San Antonio Spurs.

The Clippers supposedly would fare better against the third-seeded Denver Nuggets (the Clippers won the season series, 3-1), but this probably isn’t what Coach Mike Dunleavy had in mind.

“It was a night that we had a lot of guys banged up and injured,” Dunleavy said. “Sam got sick right before the game, he said his stomach was messed up, and then he came out and tried to play a little bit, but he said he was just dizzy and couldn’t go.

“Vladi has got a pulled groin and Corey is out with a back. Our guys played with a lot of energy, they played really hard, and defensively they did the job.”

Of course, it still wasn’t enough for a victory.

A 100-83 loss to the Lakers Sunday prompted Dunleavy to review the basics on defense, and the Mavericks shot only 37.3% from the field.

Singleton, who scored eight points in the fourth quarter, provided a spark off the bench, and the rookie forward played strong defense against Nowitzki.

Chris Kaman also delivered with 22 points and 12 rebounds, but the Clippers struggled overall on offense, scoring their fewest points of the season, making only 35.2% of their field-goal attempts.

Elton Brand, Cuttino Mobley, Quinton Ross and Livingston -- the other starters -- were a combined 12 for 47.

“As a team, we didn’t shoot well,” Brand said. “Personally, I got great looks, but I just didn’t knock them down.”

Trailing, 61-53, to start the fourth, the Clippers rallied behind the seldom-used Singleton, who made two three-pointers. They pulled within two (69-67) on rookie guard Daniel Ewing’s three-pointer with 3:37 to play, and Singleton’s second three-pointer cut it to 73-72 at the 1:25 mark.

With a chance to take the lead, Livingston made only one of two free-throws and the Mavericks regained the ball with 17 seconds to play. Guarded by Kaman, Nowitzki, who had missed eight of his previous nine shots, nailed the game winner behind the free-throw line.

“Down the stretch, when it comes down to the last shot, you have to forget about what happened before and concentrate and follow through on the shot,” said Nowitzki, who had 20 points and 14 rebounds, but missed 13 of 19 shots.

“It felt good when it left my hands.”

The Mavericks (59-19) won their fifth straight. Dallas is only half a game behind San Antonio for the best record in the conference and the top-seeded playoff spot.

“This is another game that we proved to ourselves that we can win games with our defense,” Dallas Coach Avery Johnson said. “We wouldn’t have won these types of games in the past.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Playoff standings

The three division winners from each conference will be the top three seeded teams and the next five teams with the best records will be seeded fourth through eighth. y-clinched division; x-clinched playoff spot:

WESTERN CONFERENCE

*--* Team W L PCT G B 1. x-San Antonio 59 18 766 -- 2. y-Phoenix 50 26 658 8 1/2 3. y-Denver 44 34 564 15 1/2 4. x-Dallas 59 19 756 1/2 5. x-Memphis 44 33 571 15 6. x-CLIPPERS 44 33 571 15 7. Sacramento 41 37 526 18 1/2 8. LAKERS 41 37 526 18 1/2 9. Utah 38 39 494 2 1/2 10. New Orleans 37 40 481 3 1/2

*--*