Howard was examined by Lakers’ doctor Steve Lombardo before the game and cleared to return.

Howard was injured in the second half of the Lakers’ 107-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers last week when he got his arms tangled up with Caron Butler. He played through the injury in the Lakers’ following game, a 112-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets, and tied a career high with 26 rebounds and added 14 points and four blocks in 41 minutes of playing time despite the pain.

The Lakers went 0-3 in Howard’s absence.

Lakers forward Pau Gasol, who has also been sidelined the last three games after suffering a concussion against Denver, was not cleared to return to game action after being examined Sunday morning. He will be re-evaluated Monday.

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Matt Barnes added 19 points off the bench, and Blake Griffin had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Clippers (29-8), who took sole possession of the NBA’s best record from Oklahoma City with their third straight win overall.

Darren Collison scored 22 points for Dallas. O.J. Mayo added 17 and Dirk Nowitzki had 15. At 13-23, the Mavs fell 10 games below .500 for the first time since March 30, 2000, two months after Mark Cuban bought the team. They’ve lost four in a row overall and three straight on the road, where they are 5-16.

The Clippers led the entire first half, fell behind by 10 points in third quarter and then regained the lead for the first time in the fourth on Paul’s steal and layup that made it 82-80.

They took the lead for good on Barnes’ 3-pointer that keyed an 8-0 run. Los Angeles forced former Clipper Chris Kaman into two misses, while Collison airballed another shot in that stretch as the Clippers went ahead 90-83.

Nowitzki’s jumper pulled Dallas to 95-93. Griffin hit a turnaround jumper to give the Clippers a four-point lead before Collison missed a 3-pointer in the right corner.

Caron Butler came up with two big offensive rebounds off consecutive misses by Griffin and Paul with 39 seconds left. After taking two timeouts, Paul missed an 18-footer with 24 seconds left and Dallas called timeout. Collison scrambled looking for a shot before he passed to Vince Carter, who missed.

Paul got fouled and made both shots for a 99-93 lead while fans chanted, “MVP!”

Los Angeles played flatly in the third, when the Mavs used a 22-8 run to take a 75-65 lead. Shawn Marion’s 3-pointer early in the spurt gave Dallas its first lead of the game and snapped the Clippers’ streak of leading for 10 straight quarters. The Clippers rallied at the end of the period, scoring seven in a row, punctuated by Barnes’ 3-pointer that beat the buzzer to trail, 75-72.

The Clippers led the entire first half, sparked by Barnes’ 11 points, including three 3-pointers. The Mavs scored seven straight points to tie the game at 50-all on Collison’s hook before Paul got around Mayo to hit a running jumper at the buzzer, keeping the Clippers ahead 52-50 at the break.

Game notes

Clippers G Jamal Crawford returned after missing the past two games because of a sore left foot. … Clippers F Grant Hill did not make his expected return after missing all season with a right knee bone bruise. Coach Vinny Del Negro said Hill has not had any setbacks and would practice a couple more days before being evaluated for Saturday’s game against Orlando. … The Mavs signed free-agent guard Mike James to a 10-day contract on Wednesday. The 10-year NBA veteran had played two games with the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League.

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For more news, notes and analysis of the L.A. Clippers, check out the Clippers Report. Blog

The Clippers went 16-0 in December to join the 1995-96 San Antonio Spurs and 1971-72 Lakers as the only teams to go undefeated over a month. Their franchise-record winning streak is the longest since Boston won 19 in a row four years ago.

Caron Butler led the Clippers with 29 points, making all six of his 3-pointers. Chris Paul added 19 points and nine assists to help them maintain the league’s best record at 25-6.

Al Jefferson scored 30 points to lead Utah, which fell victim for the third time during the Clippers’ streak.

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“They’re real good and they’re having a great streak, so we’ll have to reckon with them and they’re kind of setting the bar of where we need to get to,” D’Antoni said.

The Clippers, who share the Staples Center with the Lakers, came into Sunday with a league best 24-6 record and a win streak that accounted for more victories than the 15-15 Lakers have had all season, but D’Antoni said he doesn’t pay them more attention than he would any other elite NBA team.

“As much as you notice Oklahoma City,” D’Antoni said. “As much as you notice Miami. You watch. They’re a very good basketball team but I don’t get caught up that they’re across town. You can’t help where they are. But yeah, they’re good.”

When asked if the current Clippers team was the best he’s seen in his 17 seasons as a professional basketball player in L.A., Kobe Bryant replied: “I don’t think it’s a question about it.”

“To put together win streaks that are that long, it shows a lot of focus, it shows a lot of unity and a lot of depth because they can beat you multiple ways,” Bryant continued. “If you’re going to have a winning streak that’s that extensive, you have to have guys coming in from all aspects of the game.”

Despite seven of the Clippers’ 14-man roster being new to the team this season (Matt Barnes, Jamal Crawford, Willie Green, Grant Hill, Ryan Hollins, Lamar Odom and Ronny Turiaf), Bryant noted that several of their players had been teammates before wearing the Lakers’ purple and gold.

“They have a lot of guys who have played together before,” Bryant said, referring to Barnes, Odom, Turiaf and Caron Butler. “They’re very familiar with each other, so even if it seems like they slapped a lot of talent together, which they did, but a lot of those guys have been together before and they understand how to play together.”

The Clippers and Lakers play this Friday in a “road” game for the Lakers at Staples Center. If the Clippers stay undefeated between now and then, their win streak would be at 19 games coming into the Lakers showdown.

Does Bryant want the Clippers to stay hot to have a shot of ending that streak as a little payback for the Clippers’ 105-95 win over the Lakers back on Nov. 2?

“I really don’t give a s—,” Bryant said.

Regardless of whether the Clippers are still on their win streak when they play the Lakers, Chris Paul & Co. will still be ahead of the Lakers in the standings. The Lakers are currently 10th in the Western Conference, on the outside looking in at the eight-team playoff picture.

“I’m not worried about where we’d play (in the playoff seeding),” D’Antoni said when asked if the Lakers have a shot at securing one of the top four seeds in the West and thus homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. “Obviously, we’d like to and that’s our goal. We’ll see. We’ll have to have cooperation from some other teams, so, when it’s not in your hands it’s not always a thing to worry about.

“What we got to worry about is to play well. And, we’re taking some steps. I think the standings will take care of themselves. Obviously, I will look and do look and act like I’m not worried about it. Yeah, I am worried about it, but we just got to keep progressing as a team.”

How realistic would it be for the Lakers to put together a run to try to catch the Clippers, Thunder, San Antonio Spurs or Memphis Grizzlies at the top of the conference standings?

“Every season is different and every team is different, so you can’t say, ‘Well, that’s never been done,'” D’Antoni said. “Well, we’ve never had this team before so nothing is out of the realm of possibilities if you’re playing well at the right moment. That’s what we can control and that’s what we have to do. I think it’s fun to sit around and look at standings and fantasize and watch games and yell at the other team (playing on television), but we can’t control that so that’s not something we have to worry about too much.”

D’Antoni said he’ll have a better feel for the Lakers’ chances after they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, play that “road” game against the Clippers on Friday and finish up the week with a home game against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.

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