As the Dallas Mavericks continue their run through a gauntlet of elite NBA opponents, the Los Angeles Clippers and their new Chris Paul-led high flying act came to town. The Clippers have been one of the biggest tickets so far this season due to the excitement, and ensuing results, from the combination of Paul with giant dunk artists Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. With Griffin and Jordan’s finishing ability, Paul was a natural fit as quarterback of the team.

The funny thing is something else happened when Paul was traded to the Clippers after spending his whole career on the New Orleans Hornets. In addition to being a hot ticket, the Clippers actually became a good basketball team. It still doesn’t even feel right to reference a Los Angeles team that is playing so well and not mean the Lakers.

The Mavericks had quite a task on their hands with the Clippers on Monday night, as Los Angeles came in with the second best record in the Western Conference. It’s been a tough road of late for the Mavs as they’ve recently played Denver, Minnesota, and Portland while having Denver again, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and the Los Angeles Lakers all on the docket leading up to the All Star Break in Orlando.

In the meantime, the Mavericks had to deal with the Clippers and try to take advantage of a chance to send a message to the rest of the Western Conference that they were finally finding themselves and ready to meet expectations. Building on their three-game winning streak wasn’t going to be easy against Chris Paul who has seemingly made a career out of shredding the Mavericks. Early on, that wasn’t the case as Shawn Marion kept him in check with only eight points through three quarters. Paul also had eight assists through three frames, but the Mavericks will take that all day considering how much he has tormented Dallas in the past.

After leading the whole game, the Mavs entered the fourth quarter down 76-74, which wasn’t a good sign considering their 0-9 record this season when trailing after three quarters. With five minutes to play, the Mavericks employed a ‘Hack-A-Blake’ strategy to keep Griffin at the free throw line, where he struggles, rather than give the Clippers a chance to score during the run of play. It worked, as Griffin shot from the 1-for-8 from the line during that stretch. After a Jason Terry layup with 2:02 remaining, the Mavericks took an 88-84 lead and look primed to continue their winning ways against this tough streak of opponents. Dirk Nowitzki pushed the lead to five with 22 second remaining after a tough contested jumper over Clippers forward Kenyon Martin and two free throws.

Still, the Clippers weren’t done as they cut it to a 2-point lead with 22 seconds left. After a miss communication between Jason Kidd and Delonte West, the Clippers stole the inbounds pass to set up a potential game-winning three-pointer that former Maverick Caron Butler missed with just seconds remaining.

Before the game, Mark Cuban and Rick Carlisle led the American Airlines Center in an emotional ceremony to present Butler his championship ring that he contributed to last season. Butler left the building with his jewelry, but it was the Mavericks who escaped with the win and a shiny, new four-game winning streak.