Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds, as the Dallas Mavericks edged the Los Angeles Clippers, 93-84, at Staples Center.

Shawn Marion added 16 points and 11 boards for the Mavericks, who handed the defending champion Lakers a 94-80 loss on Friday. Jason Terry had 16 points and six assists. Erick Dampier finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Dallas, which has won four straight against the Clippers.

"We're starting to gel, especially defensively. Kaman shot really well against us tonight. So we tried to shut down everyone else," Marion said.

Chris Kaman had a career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds for Los Angeles, which has dropped its first four games of the season. Eric Gordon added 16 points, while Sebastian Telfair ended with 12 points and five rebounds off the bench in defeat.

"We came out in the third quarter and took some bad shots. We weren't moving the ball like we did in the first half. We had opportunities to score but we didn't do a good job of it," Los Angeles head coach Mike Dunleavy said.

Trailing 59-57 in the third, Dallas used an impressive 17-3 run to take the lead. Nowitzki had six points during the surge, including a jumper with 2:47 left to give the Mavericks a 74-62 margin. A Telfair three-pointer cut the gap to 80-71 heading to the fourth.

A Kris Humphries jumper put Dallas ahead 82-73 with 10:35 to play. LA responded with nine straight points to tie things up. A Craig Smith layup topped off the spurt with 7:11 left.

The Mavericks held an 85-84 edge with 4:42 to play after Kaman made a hook shot for the Clippers. Dallas scored the final eight points of the contest to seal the victory.

Dampier highlighted the strong finish with an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Jason Kidd.

The Clippers led 27-23 after the first quarter, but the Mavericks tied things at 55 heading into the locker room.

Game Notes

The Mavericks went 3-1 against the Clippers a season ago and have won 16 of the previous 21 meetings between the teams...Kidd had 10 assists and three points in the win.

11/01 01:56:30 ET