The guard made the biggest shot of his young career Tuesday night, nailing a 3-pointer with less than a minute to play to give the Mavericks their only lead of the game and a 100-98 victory over the Clippers, who quite frankly played with more spunk than the Mavericks most of the evening.

But at crunch time, the Clippers were the Clippers, and the Mavericks started a seven-game homestand with a win.

"That was some gutsy stuff," Dirk Nowitzki said of Barea, the 5-11 spark plug who had 15 points and six assists. "He showed some big [heart] stepping up to shoot that one."

The Mavericks (9-8) avenged a loss to the Clippers in LA last month and nosed above .500 for the first time this season.

"It was huge to get this win, as unlikely as it seemed with four or five minutes left," coach Rick Carlisle said.

The Mavs were down 12 points with less than five minutes remaining. They had been content to stand on the perimeter and fling jumpers, with very little success. They couldn't stop the Clippers until resorting to a zone defense in the final minutes.

After Nowitzki cut the deficit to 96-91, Al Thornton hit a long jumper with 2:55 left. It would be the Clippers' last points. The Mavericks stopped them on their final six possessions.

Barea and Jason Terry, who again was the sizzling sixth man with 26 points, combined for six points to make it a one-point game with 1:15 left. After Clippers' rookie Eric Gordon missed a baseline jumper, Barea hit the 3-pointer with 50.2 seconds left that put the Mavericks ahead, 100-98.

"I saw Jason Kidd bringing the ball down on the other side, and I knew he was going to look my way," Barea said.

Added Carlisle: "When he sets his feet, he makes it. He's one of the guys that willed us to this victory."

The Clippers' last gasp was a 3-pointer from longtime Mavericks nemesis Baron Davis that clanged off the rim.

Cuban mum on Cubs: Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been a potential buyer of Baseball's Chicago Cubs , but a new round of bids that leaked out Tuesday did not have him among those making another run at the iconic team. At least, not officially.

Cuban would not discuss stories that had three other bidders making new proposals for the team. The bids clearly have dropped significantly since the first round early last year, when Cuban's bid was presumed to be the highest at more than $1.2 billion.

A source close to the situation said that the bidding process may not ultimately be the deciding factor in future ownership of the team. Other bidders, perhaps including Cuban, could use other avenues to eventually gain controlling interest of the team.

Howard still out: Mavericks forward Josh Howard experienced some slight overnight swelling in his left ankle and was held out of his sixth consecutive game. He is day-to-day.

Antoine Wright (left groin muscle) didn't play Tuesday and will miss at least another game or two, he said.