LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Mavericks built a 12-point lead with 2:50 to play, gave away all but two points of it, and still managed to hang on. Dirk Nowitzki scored 26 points and Jose Calderon added 19 in the 113-107 win over the Clippers on Thursday night, the Mavericks first against Los Angeles this season. Blake Griffin had 25 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in his first triple-double of the season for the Clippers, who had won 17 of their previous 19, including four straight. They beat the Mavs in their first three meetings of the season, coming from behind each time. A night earlier, the Clippers came back from a 17-point deficit to beat Phoenix on the road, clinching their second straight Pacific Division title and third consecutive playoff berth. They nearly pulled it off again. Trailing by 12 points, Los Angeles scored 10 in a row, including six by Darren Collison, to trail 109-107 with 1:26 left. The Mavericks missed four straight shots and had a turnover before Griffin fouled Nowitzki near mid-court. "The win was nice; not so much the last couple of minutes," Nowitzki said. "We started giving the ball away again. (J.J.) Redick made some shots to actually give them the lead, which is unbelievable after we just had a 10-point lead. But Im glad we survived." Nowitzki made both of his free throws for a 111-107 lead with 17 seconds left. Collison fouled Shawn Marion and he made both to keep the Clippers down by six. "We ran out of miracles," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. Samuel Dalembert and Monta Ellis added 12 points each, and Vince Carter had 16 for the Mavs, who won their third straight on a road while battling Memphis for the eighth and last Western Conference playoff spot. "It was a big win for us against a very good team, a team we hadnt beaten yet this year and a team that hasnt lost much on their home floor," Nowitzki said. "Were going to keep fighting. Theres six games left and theres plenty of challenges for us down the road." Dallas had the Clippers trailing for much of their last matchup of the season against each other. Los Angeles rallied to tie it 89-all early in the fourth on two free throws by Redick, who finished with 12 points in his first game since Feb. 3. He missed 25 games with a bulging disk in his back. "I felt limited by my rustiness," said Redick, usually a starter. "I felt like I couldve given us a bigger boost and didnt do that. I havent moved at that speed in two months. Definitely my brain wasnt reacting well." Nowitzki led a 10-0 run, sandwiching 3-pointers around a basket by Carter, to put Dallas back in front 99-89. A 3-pointer by Carter extended the Mavs lead to 104-93. Dallas clamped down on Chris Paul and Griffin for a stretch before the Clippers got hot. Paul finished with 17 points and nine assists. "We needed every single point of it," Nowitzki said. "The way we give away leads is sometimes mindboggling." DeAndre Jordan added 21 points and 15 rebounds, and Collison had 22 points for the Clippers. "We just ran out of time," Paul said. "We waited too long. Its a tough loss because we could have found a way to win." The Clippers rallied to start the third, using a 13-7 run to take a 69-65 lead. Jordan scored six points and four others scored. But their lead was short-lived. Dallas outscored the Clippers 21-12 to end the third leading 86-81. Calderon scored 10 in a row, Dalembert and Ellis had four each, and Carter and Devin Harris hit 3-pointers to keep the Clippers from regaining the lead. The Mavericks led by 11 twice in the first half, and were up 58-56 at halftime. NOTES: Clippers backup G Jamal Crawford missed his third straight game with a sore left Achilles tendon. F Danny Granger sat out with a strained left hamstring. Coach Doc Rivers said hed be surprised if either of them return before the playoffs begin in two weeks. ... The Mavs avoided getting swept by the Clippers for the first time since 1993-94. ... It was Griffins fourth triple-double of his career. Wholesale Authentic Hoodies . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. Hoodies China . Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points, Shawn Marion had 22 and the Mavericks beat undermanned Philadelphia 124-112 Friday night, handing the 76ers their 10th straight loss. http://www.hoodiescheap.com/ . Right-hander Todd Redmond took the loss. Jose Bautista hit his second home run of the spring. Here are a handful of tidbits from around camp: Hutchison impressive The Blue Jays are being cautious when talking about their young arms but internally, excitement is building over the way Drew Hutchison is looking and performing this spring. NFL Hoodies Cheap For Sale . The 23-year-old Neustaedter will move at the end of the season when his contract with Moenchengladbach expires. He signed a four-year deal with Schalke. Stitched Hoodies . The Brazilian driver had the second-best time in last months tests at Jerez and said the "good start" could play to his advantage when the season gets underway in Australia in March. TORONTO -- Yu Darvish was excellent. R.A Dickey wasnt bad either. And J.P. Arencibia returned with a bang. Darvish (9-5) scattered five hits and struck out 12 over 6 2/3 innings and former Blue Jay Arencibia hit a three-run homer to help the Texas Rangers end their eight-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over Toronto on Friday night. Dickey (7-10) started strongly for the Jays but paid for a seventh-inning knuckleball that got away and was slammed into the left-field seats by Arencibia. "It just knuckled into the barrel, thankfully, because the other ones I swung and missed by a foot," said Arencibia, who struck out twice. Dickey has now lost six of his last seven starts, during which the Jays have scored a total of 11 runs. It was a matchup of two teams in a nosedive, played before 38,012 on a pleasant 22-degree night with the roof open at Rogers Centre. The Rangers (39-57), mired in the longest current losing streak in the majors, had lost 14 of their last 15 games and 22 of 25. Toronto (49-48) had dropped eight of its last 10, 11 of 15 and 17 of 25. But Darvish proved to be the tonic needed for Texas, which is now 12-6 this season when the elegant right-hander from Japan starts. Through six innings, every Blue Jays starter had struck out at least once and Texas finished with 17 strikeouts on the night. "It started on the mound," said Texas manager Ron Washington. "Yu was able to pitch around some traffic that he had on the bases and make some pitches in some key situations. He kept us in the ball game until we could get something going offensively. Despite a slump of its own, Toronto came into the game second in the AL East, four games back of Baltimore, while Texas was last in the AL West, 21 games behind the leading Athletics. Texas has a league-leading 15 players on the disabled list. The Rangers also lead the majors in players (50) and pitchers (30) used in 2014, and, with 15 rookies, is tied with Arizona for another MLB first. Like the Rangers, Toronto is missing key personnel. But manager John Gibbons wasnt making excuses. "When guys like Darvish are on, I dont care what your lineup looks like. Theyre going to cut you up pretty good. Theyre going to limit your opportunities," he said. "We had a couple tonight that we didnt cash in. We left a few guys on base (nine). Thats why hes one of the top pitchers in baseball. But I mean weve been in an offensive drought for a while now. And were due to break something out." It marked the sixth time this season that Darvish, who tied his season high for Ks, has recorded double-digit strikeouts. Toronto, which has now lost three straight games, had won eight of its last 10 against Texas since the start of 2013. The Jays offence continued to sputter, with one run on seven hits. Dickey opened strongly before faltering in the fifth when Adrian Beltre ended the knuckleballers scoreless run with a leadoff homer. Dickey had faced the minimum 12 batters in the first four innings before giving up the line-drive shot over the right-field fence on a 3-1 delivery, Beltres 14th homer of the season. Two outs later, Dickey hit Arencibia with a knuckleball that got away and second baseman Rougned Odor tripled him home to increase the lead to 2-0.dddddddddddd. Arencibia, a catcher making his MLB debut at first base, made it 5-0 with one out in the seventh when he cashed in back-to-back singles with his homer. "A big blow," said Gibbons. "I hope it gives him confidence," Washington said of Arencibia. "He certainly didnt lack it when he arrived here from the minor leagues. It was nice for him to come through right there. It was big, it was huge. Getting hit by the pitch was huge, too. He had a good night back. Its got to continue. At least he gives us some threat in that lineup." Colby Rasmus pulled one back with a leadoff homer to right field in the seventh, his 13th of the season. Darvish exited two outs later with the Jays having men on second and third after a walk and single. Left-hander Neal Cotts induced Melky Cabrera to fly out to end the inning. The Rasmus home run ended a scoreless streak of 16 innings -- and a 42-inning run without a homer for the Jays, who lead the majors in home runs. Darvish walked three and had two wild pitches, throwing 117 pitches including 69 strikes. Dickey gave up five earned runs on six hits in seven innings, striking out seven while walking two. He threw 109 pitches, 75 for strikes. "I thought Dickey was good. The three-run homer, of course, hurt," said Gibbons. "But hes been on a nice roll pitching. Were not winning his games. Were not scoring runs in his games. But take away that home run, I thought he was really good." The combined salaries of Dickey (US$12 million) and Darvish ($10 million) would nearly cover half of the CFLs salary cap hit. And they wasted little time showing why they collected such hefty paycheques. Dickey retired the first seven batters he faced before giving up a single to Odor. A pretty double play by Munenori Kawasaki ended the inning quickly, however. Darvish also kept the Jays off the bases in the early going with just two walks and two singles in the first five innings. Toronto had men on first and second with one out in the second but Darvish snuffed out the threat with two straight strikeouts. He struck out two more to end the fifth after walking Juan Francisco. Darvish did it again in the sixth, striking out two after Cabrera led off the inning with a bloop single before stealing second. Darvish had not pitched since July 9 other than an inning in Tuesdays all-star game. The six-foot-five right-hander came into the game having given up at least four earned runs in four of his last five starts. The game marked back-to-back starts for Dickey, who was on the mound for Torontos last game before the all-star break -- allowing two runs in six innings in a 3-0 loss to Tampa. He said the lack of run support was not in his mind. "No, not really. I cant control any of that. I have a hard enough time tending to my own garden. If I can just concentrate on being me and hopefully Ill get us deep into the ball game with a chance to win the game, hopefully I havent given up any runs. Thats all I can do. And thats all I try to do." Aaron Loup, Todd Redmond and Dustin McGowan followed Dickey. Closer Joakim Soria pitched the ninth for Texas, striking out two and giving up a single. ' ' '