New York: The Los Angeles Clippers won their NBA home opener on Thursday, downing the Dallas Mavericks 104-88 in a contest spiced by the contentious off-season contract waffling of centre DeAndre Jordan.
Jordan reneged on a verbal agreement to join the Mavericks as a free agent, opting instead to remain with the Clippers.
Prior to tip-off, outspoken Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was dismissive of the Clippers, who have long played second-fiddle to the Lakers in Los Angeles.
But it was the Clippers who were in control for most of the game against a Mavericks team missing Chandler Parsons, JaVale McGee, Wesley Matthews and Deron Williams.
Williams suffered a left knee contusion in Wednesday’s 111-95 win over Phoenix while Matthews, who scored nine points on Wednesday, was held out because Mavericks officials didn’t want him playing two nights straight on his surgically repaired Achilles tendon.
Blake Griffin scored 26 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, guard Jamal Crawford added 15 points off the bench and Los Angeles led by as many as 28 points in the sometimes prickly contest.
Jordan and the Mavericks’ German star Dirk Nowitzki had a brief altercation late in the first half after the two made contact under the Clippers basket.
Players from both teams traded barbs before technical fouls were issued to Jordan, Griffin and Mavs guard Raymond Felton.
The Mavericks then instituted a “hack-a-Jordan” strategy, fouling him on each of the Clippers’ next three possessions.
He missed five of six attempts but Los Angeles still led 51-43 at halftime.
“I thought he handled it well,” Griffin said of Jordan’s response to an emotional night. “He was excited for it - but we should be excited for every game.”
The climb back to the top of the NBA is going to be long and steep for the New York Knicks.
After a franchise-worst 17-65 campaign in 2014-15, the Knicks opened the season on Wednesday with a 122-97 victory over the Bucks in Milwaukee.
But in front of their home fans at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, the Knicks were exposed in a 112-101 loss to the Atlanta Hawks - the team that finished with last season’s best regular-season record.
The Hawks used their trademark balanced attack. Six players scored in double figures and Atlanta handed out a total of 26 assists on 42 made shots.
Guard Jeff Teague led Atlanta with 23 points and eight assists. Center Al Horford added 21 points and shooting guard Kyle Korver contributed 15.
Atlanta led by as many as 22 and were ahead by at least 11 throughout the fourth quarter.
“We weren’t ready for (the Hawks),” Knicks coach Derek Fisher admitted.
Star forward Carmelo Anthony led New York with 25 points. Center Robin Lopez, a free agent acquisition over the summer, added 18 points, and rookie forward Kristaps Porzingis of Latvia scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Porzingis, whose selection in the draft prompted derision from Knicks fans unfamiliar with his game, drew the loudest cheers of the night with a third-quarter dunk - stealing the ball in the backcourt and spinning around Paul Millsap to go in for the jam.
A strong performance from the Knicks reserves in the second quarter saw the hosts take a 31-30 lead, but the Hawks quickly regained control with a 15-4 scoring run.
Anthony continued to struggle with his shot. He is a combined 14-for-43 (32.6 percent) from the field in New York’s first two games, but Fisher didn’t want to get bogged down talking about that kind of stat.
“We have to get to a point where we are concerned with winning percentages and not shooting percentages,” Fisher said. “Being good takes time.”
