In the absence of Dirk Nowitzki, someone had to step up. Tuesday, it was No.5.

The Show goes airborne against the Clippers' Tim Thomas (Getty Images).

The Show put his team on his back, carrying the Mavs with a 27-point second half to a 103-90 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

No. 5 came out of the halftime break a different player. Instead of settling for jumpers, he forced the action at the rim, scoring 12 of his 18 points at the line in a decisive third quarter. The Show finished with a game-high 32 points while making all 15 of his free throw attempts, adding seven rebounds and four steals.

TAKING CONTROL
Before, No. 5 got rolling, Dallas led only 60-58 midway through the third quarter. Josh then exploded for 20 of the Mavericks’ next 26 points, putting them up by 16 early in the fourth.

“I had my mind made up,” Howard said of taking control. “I didn’t have such a good first half overall. We need wins with Dirk out. We have to have guys come in night in and night out, and overall, the team effort was there.”

NEXT UP
Josh and the Mavs (45-26) travel to Denver (43-28) for a critical showdown Thursday night, 5pm PST. The game will be televised on TNT.

The Mavericks remain two games in front of Denver in the standings, and 1.5 games in front of Golden State. As fate would have it, they're  the next two team Dallas will play.

RELATED STORIES
Dallas Mavericks beat Clippers to end skid, (DallasNews.com, Mar.26, 2008)
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/...
Howard’s 32 Lift Mavericks Past Clippers, (NBA.com, Mar.26, 2008)
http://www.nba.com/games/20080325/LACDAL/recap.html?rss=true
Howard finds form in time to lift Mavs, (Star-Telegram, Mar.26, 2008)
http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/547324.html
Mavs- Clippers Box Score, (NBA.com, Mar.25, 2008)
http://www.nba.com/games/20080325/LACDAL/boxscore.html

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