Coach Jason Kidd’s Dallas Mavericks flipped the series on the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, picking up a huge win in LA to even the series as it heads back to their home court in Big D.

Luka Doncic led the way with 32 points and four Mavs players scored in double figures, but the story of the evening was the Dallas defense. Just two days after getting bludgeoned by a rolling Clippers offense led by James Harden and Ivica Zubac, the Mavs locked in on D and allowed just 93 points, tying LA’s second lowest total scoring output all season.

Harden and Zubac combined for 35 points, but needed 26 shots to get them and as a team the Clippers made just 36.8 percent of their attempts from the field. The Mavs shot a few ticks better at 42.1 percent and that was more than enough to make the difference in a 96-93 Dallas victory to even the series at one game apiece.

“Both teams were under 100. It was 90s basketball at its best,” Coach Kidd quipped after the win. “When you can hold the Clippers, because they’re a great offensive team, under 100 points, that shows that we’re playing defense at a high level.”

According to Coach Kidd, that high level of defense starts with Doncic, who has seen teams run pick and rolls in his direction all season long on the defensive end. Jason said that Doncic has taken on the challenge early in this series and did so in particular on Tuesday, which created a trickle-down effort from his teammates.

“We know they’re going to put him in every pick and roll. He’s participating at a high level on both ends. We need him on the offensive end, but we also need him on the defensive end and he’s been able to do that here in the first two games,” Coach Kidd said. “We all know when he’s playing at that level, they have to step up too. They understand the responsibility of their leader. When he’s gonna play defense and participate, they have to be able to do the same thing. He’s leading, not just on the offensive end but on the defensive end. He’s made some great plays, coming up with steals, rebounds and then being able to guard the ball. He’s been able to pick his spots and understands that we need those stops.”

Doncic also showed some emotion in Game 2, picking up a technical foul, but also enthusiastically rallying his teammates, a trait that didn’t go unnoticed by his coach.

“We know that Luka plays with a lot of emotion and sometimes that can paralyze a teammate or two. But I think you can see with him encouraging his teammates, the response was a positive,” Jason said. “Being able to make plays while being double teamed, the trust that he has when he gives it to P.J. or Gaff or Lively. A lot of times, stars, coming down the stretch, will ignore the double team and try to do it themselves. But Luka really understands the game and trusts his teammates. His emotion, we need that, and we need that in a positive way.”

In addition to Doncic’s 32 points, he had nine assists. Kyrie Irving added 23 points and P.J. Washington stepped up with 18 points while also taking on the challenge of defending, at times, Harden, Paul George or Kawhi Leonard.

“Understanding what PJ means to us on the defensive end, he made some big threes for us too. Just being able to play both ways, being able to step up and make those free throws down the stretch,” J-Kidd said. “For his first series when you talk about the playoffs, he’s been big for us. He’s been big since we got him in the trade. We rely on him defensively to be able to guard those guys from the Clippers because it’s just not one. It seems like he’s guarding everyone.”

The Mavs led by as many as eight points in the first quarter and had their lead as high as seven midway through the third, but an 18-6 run by the Clippers over the final five minutes of the third and the first two-and-a-half minutes of the fourth has LA up six with Dallas reeling, forcing Jason to take a timeout early in the fourth. The Mavs responded to that timeout with a 14-0 run and held the edge the rest of the way.

“This is a game of runs. The Clippers made a run. The big thing is to stay together,” Coach Kidd said. “[Our guys] truly believe they can stay together, and we answered with a run. We just felt that we had some great looks. The Clippers are a very good team. We know they weren’t just going to go away. But I thought the response after that timeout just shows how competitive the guys are and how badly they wanted to win.”

Down the stretch, the Clippers pulled back within three, but a pass by Doncic out of a double team found an open Maxi Kleber for a trey that doubled the lead, and moments later, Luka buried a triple of his own to give the Mavs their biggest lead of the night with 1:26 to go. Washington made some clutch free throws down the stretch to put the game on ice.

“Maxi was big. The catch and shoot with the double team. We’ve seen this all season,” Jason said. “ Luka is making the right plays, accepting the double team and then I think it’s the trust that those guys have with one another, not just Luka and Maxi, but those five that are on the floor there.”

The Mavs will be back on their home floor on Friday night for Game 3 of their series with the Clippers at American Airlines Center. Tip-off is scheduled for shortly after 7 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on ESPN.