Five takeaways from the Clippers’ 90-88 loss to Dallas Mavericks

The Clippers could not finish off the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night, falling 90-88 at Staples Center.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. It was easy to see just how much the Clippers missed Chris Paul (strained left hamstring) during their loss at Staples Center.

The team turned the ball over 20 times, leading to 20 points for the Mavericks.

Perhaps even more important, by giving the ball away so often, the Clippers helped the Mavericks get more shot opportunities — 13 more attempts than Los Angeles.

Among the turnovers, J.J. Redick had five; DeAndre Jordan and Jamal Crawford had four each; Austin Rivers had three; Raymond Felton had two; and there was one each by Paul Pierce and Alan Anderson.

2. Another big problem for the Clippers was not taking care of the backboards.

Although they were outrebounded by just one, 42-41, the Clippers gave up 14 offensive rebounds, including six in the fourth quarter.

That, again, gave the Mavericks more shot opportunities.

Dallas backup center Salah Mejri hurt the Clippers the most, claiming five offensive rebounds.

3. Felton spent the last two years playing for the Dallas Mavericks before joining the Clippers last summer.

He faced his old team by replacing Paul as the starting point guard. Felton had eight points, four rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes.

4. The Clippers shot the three-pointer with confidence against the Mavericks, making 44.8% (13 of 29) of their long-range shots.

Rivers was four of six from three-point range.

5. With Blake Griffin (right knee surgery) out, the Clippers didn’t get much production out of their starting forwards.

Pierce, who started in Griffin’s absence, had only three points and three rebounds.

Luc Mbah a Moute had just five points, six rebounds and three assists.

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