DALLAS -- Chris Paul had to be reminded that the Los Angeles Clippers are up to an NBA-leading 14 wins.They wont get much easier than this one over the injury-plagued Dallas Mavericks.Paul scored 18 points, DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and eight rebounds and the Clippers cruised past the Mavericks 124-104 on Wednesday night in a matchup of the teams with the best and worst records in the NBA.I honestly didnt know we had 14 wins, said Paul, who added four assists and four steals. I know we have two losses. But for us, when youve been in this league for a while, its not necessarily about the wins. Its about how youre playing and about the spirit.Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting in 20 minutes in his return for Dallas after the 13-time All-Star missed eight games with a strained left Achilles tendon.Austin Rivers added 22 points -- half of them in a meaningless fourth quarter -- for the Clippers. They had a 30-6 run in the second and third quarters on the way to their fourth straight win and 11th in 12 games.Harrison Barnes had 22 to lead the Mavericks (2-12). They lost their seventh straight game to match their longest skid since February 1999, during Nowitzkis rookie season.Dallas, missing its top three point guards and facing a trip to defending champion Cleveland, is off to its worst start since going 1-23 in 1993-94. The Mavericks started the week with a valiant effort in a loss at San Antonio.This is obviously as tough a week as you can get in the NBA, Nowitzki said. So hopefully well fight through this and grind out a win here and there. And when the schedule turns in our favor hopefully get more healthy and run off some wins. Thats the only way to do it.Blake Griffin had 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds, all in the first three quarters along with the rest of the starters. The Clippers led by 31 in the third.Rivers scored 11 points in the first half, including 3-pointers just four seconds apart after he hit one, stole the inbound pass and made another. He was 6 of 7 from long range.TIP-INSClippers: LA shot 61 percent in the first half and made 9 of 14 from 3-point range. ... Marreese Speights scored 16 and Jamal Crawford added 15 as the Clippers had a 65-43 advantage in bench scoring. ... Speights had his first double-double with a season-high 12 rebounds. The 16 points matched his season high. ... JJ Redick had 10 points.Mavericks: PG Deron Williams sat for the eighth time in nine games with a left calf strain. He said hes hopeful to play next week. ... C Andrew Bogut was called for a flagrant foul on a hip-check of Paul as the Clippers point guard drove to the basket. Paul jumped up and went at Bogut, and the pair kept jawing as the referees prepared to review the play. ... Bogut had 12 rebounds and six assists after missing a game with a sore right calf.COWBOY UPThe Clippers will stay in the Dallas area to attend the Washington Redskins-Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving before continuing a six-game trip Friday at Detroit. Paul is a well-documented fan of the Cowboys, who have the NFLs best record at 9-1. He wore the jersey of rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott, the NFLs rushing leader, on the flight from Los Angeles. Paul has attended Cowboys training camp in the LA area.While acknowledging that his team has a bevy of Dallas fans, Clippers coach and Chicago Bears fan Doc Rivers had a parting shot for reporters. Im not going to call you any of you guys bandwagon, OK, but this is the first time you guys have mentioned the Cowboys in like four years, Rivers said.LOSING THE LUSTERThe boos were still there for Jordan, who spurned the Mavericks in free agency in the summer of 2015 after agreeing to join them. But they werent quite as loud or persistent as the 6-foot-11 centers two visits last season.UP NEXTClippers: The visit to the Pistons on the seasons longest trip is the first of four straight against Eastern Conference teams. Defending champion Cleveland is the last of those four opponents.Mavericks: A quick trip to face LeBron James, another Cowboys fan, and the Cavaliers on Friday before home games against New Orleans and San Antonio. Air Force 1 Cheap Outlet . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. Air Force 1 Ireland Sale . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. http://www.airforce1ireland.com/ . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Air Force 1 Ireland Cheap . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. Cheap Air Force 1 Ireland . - Levi Browns tenure at left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers is over before it even began. Second place has been a curse for Team Liquid. Other squads might look at the consistent top-four placements that Liquid has achieved as goals to aspire to, but for Liquid its always been disappointing coming in just shy of the top prize.This teams first and most recent major LAN victory in 2016 was at Epicenter this past May. That hard-won 3-2 victory against Newbee is a high point the five members of Liquid would like to achieve again, this time at The International, Dota 2s biggest tournament. How are the players handling this challenge?For now, we are slowly shaping ourselves to the form we were at Epicenter, which was our strongest point, said four-role player Jesse JerAx Vainikka.Back to boot campTeam Liquid isnt a new name in esports, but this fresh-faced lineup is new to the banner. Picked up wholesale by the organization last October, the former 5Jungz squad has been further reinforced by the know-how and tools available to an established brand. This includes knowledgeable support staff and intensive boot camps.JerAx points to coaches William Blitz Lee and Lee Heen Seung Gon, as well as team manager Mohamed Morad, saying the team is lucky to have [them] and that they help by bringing up key points for improvement. That support, according to now-former coach Blitz, has been a catalyst for the teams success.The team has all the skill in the world, Blitz said. Having a good support staff just allows them to fully utilize their potential.Of course, Liquid is no stranger to large tournaments. This lineup has played in almost every major and premier in 2016, and always performed at a high level. The pre-TI boot camp is different, though, and Liquid is going at it with much more determination.Before, [for] previous tournaments, we felt like the boot camps were extremely useful for the team, but lasted only for a week, which we found too short, JerAx said. Before TI, we are going to stay together for a straight month, with some days off here and there.This level of preparation is crucial for The International. Eighteen of the top teams in the world will be competing for a massive prize pool. Money and status ride on the line, and every team will be focusing, preparing for any and all opponents that might stand between them and the cup. Its a lot to manage, but Blitz says the focus is on the team, and not outside factors.At boot camps we work primarily on improving ourselves and less about reading our opponents, Blitz said. Things like working on communication and chemistry are the most important factors to us.Writing a new playbookkThe plays of Team Liquid are fast, coordinated and sometimes appear effortless.dddddddddddd The cohesion of this team is something to behold, and its a factor that has pushed it ahead of many other teams in the pack.If youre looking for a standout player, it might be JerAx. Most well-known for his Earth Spirit play, JerAx was adept at playing the rolling roamer, making aggressive plays in the mid and side lanes, and securing space for his carries.According to JerAx, though, his role has changed a lot since the days of first-pick Earth Spirit.That used to be the old days of Liquid, when we played extremely aggressive, he said. Right now [Kuro KuroKy Salehi Takhasomi] is playing the roamer, and Im sticking to the safelane with [Lasse MATUMBAMAN Urpalainen].That switch-up might seem odd, given JerAxs skill at executing roaming ganks. The four-role player seems used to adapting to new mindsets though, as its something he says hes had to do against discerning opponents. I used to switch things up a lot when I went into new games, when people figured out what Im doing, he said.His lane companion, MATUMBAMAN, also has a wide pool of heroes. In just The Summit 5 alone, the most recent tournament the team attended, Matu played eight different cores across 13 matches. Morphling, Huskar, Drow Ranger, Timbersaw, Storm Spirit and Anti-Mage all comprise a highly varied pool, and it doesnt even include what might be his best-known pick, Lycan.MATUMBAMAN told me that when looking for new picks, he looks to places some might see as odd. Whenever I develop new heroes, its a combination of pub games and other pro game replays I have watched, he said. Obviously I might [mess] up, but thats life.Switching roles, getting new pick ideas from pub matches, and staying in the same house together for an entire month might grate on a lesser teams nerves, but for Team Liquid, the squads bond trumps all of those concerns. These five have been together a long time; theres a level of trust and a shared commitment to the goal that keeps them going.We are definitely friends with each other, JerAx said. And I think it plays a huge part when we stay together for multiple weeks at boot camps and tournaments.Team Liquid has seen the highs and lows. It has put in the prep time. On the precipice of TI6, MATUMBAMAN summed up his goal for Seattle: Leave the venue knowing that I and my team did everything we could to produce the best performance. ' ' '