Five takeaways from the Clippers’ 98-91 victory over Dallas

The Clippers didn’t have anything at stake Sunday afternoon but certainly didn’t have a playing-out-the-string feel during a 98-91 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at Staples Center. Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. Blake Griffin got it going in the second half. Griffin was about as bad as he’s ever been in the first half, missing nine of 11 shots and failing to find any sort of range with his jumper. Then he started attacking the basket and found his form, scoring 13 of his 17 points after halftime while making five of seven shots. His defense also experienced a significant uptick, and he nearly notched a triple double, finishing with 17 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. “He started playing with amazing force and energy defensively and got his hands on balls, and it’s funny, when your offensive game is struggling, you start doing all the other little things,” Coach Doc Rivers said. “That makes him have positive energy and the whole thing changes for him, and I think that’s what he did.”

2. It feels like a repeat of the end of the 2014-15 regular season. The Clippers won 14 of 15 games while working Griffin back into the lineup after a long layoff and went on to beat the San Antonio Spurs in the first round. This time around, they have won nine of 10 games -- five in a row since Griffin returned -- and seem to be in a good spot as the playoffs approach. “It’s always nice to win, so you know what that’s like, so you can sort of have a rhythm going into the playoffs,” point guard Chris Paul said. “For us, we definitely want to keep winning and make sure we’re playing the right way and getting everybody incorporated.”

3. DeAndre Jordan regressed at the free-throw line. It seems hard to do for a player making only 42.9% of his free throws, but Jordan would have loved to have reached that percentage against the Mavericks. Instead, he made only six of 23 attempts, a ghastly 26.1%. At least Jordan had some fun with it when asked if shooting so many free throws was tiresome. “I don’t get tired just standing there shooting free throws,” he said. “It was more of a rest period for me and the rest of the guys, but I feel like they felt great tonight, they looked great except for a couple were kind of line drives. But my teammates have confidence in me when I’m up there. That’s all that matters. I’m going to continue to be confident and just shoot the basketball. It’ll happen during the playoffs.”

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Ben Bolch and Lindsey Thiry discuss the Clippers 98-91 victory over the Mavericks, including Blake Griffin’s performance and the approaching playoffs.

4. It’s still unknown whom the Clippers will play in the first round of the playoffs. It could be Portland. It could be Memphis. It could be Dallas. The three teams were separated by only 1 1/2 games with three days left in the regular season. Portland seems the most likely opponent because it holds a half-game lead over Memphis and plays its regular-season finale at home against lottery-bound Denver. Memphis has to play the Clippers and Golden State, with the Warriors having plenty of incentive to win because they would break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 wins in the regular season. Dallas also has a difficult remaining schedule, with games at Utah and home against San Antonio.

5. The Clippers’ second-to-last game of the regular season could be the finale for the starters. Rivers has already said he would rest at least some of his top players Wednesday against Phoenix. The big question is Griffin, who may want to play against the Suns depending on how many minutes he logs against Memphis the previous night. “Back-to-backs are a little risky,” Griffin said. “So we’ll see how Tuesday goes, and we’ll make a decision after that, but I definitely want to play in Tuesday’s game and go from there.” The last two times Rivers has decided to keep players home, he’s kept all of his regular starters in Los Angeles except forward Luc Mbah a Moute. The Clippers nearly won both games, falling to Oklahoma City in a thriller and stunning Utah with only nine available players.

Twitter: @latbbolch

ben.bolch@latimes.com