LOS ANGELES — This was an up-close glimpse of what could have been. A veteran point guard taking and making shots, in essence, making himself at home on the Crypto.com Arena floor.

Kyrie Irving, the mercurial point guard, showed up in Los Angeles on Wednesday – not as a member of the Clippers but wearing a brand-new Dallas Mavericks uniform.

Soon after Irving demanded a trade from the Brooklyn Nets, the Clippers declared their interest in acquiring the talented guard. Before the Clippers could secure a trade, the Mavericks had paired the eight-time All-Star with guard Luka Doncic, who reportedly gave his blessing to the trade.

“You can see how good he is, so I think this should be really fun,” Doncic said in an interview on ESPN on Wednesday.

Doncic, who is nursing a heel contusion, was not in uniform for Irving’s solid debut with the Mavericks, but he was in the building to see his new teammate get jeered by the Clippers crowd on his first possession and watch him score 24 points in Dallas’ 110-104 victory.

Irving, who is averaging 27.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists this season, also had four rebounds and five assists in 37 minutes.

“We were sitting in a walkthrough trying to figure out the last time that this team actually faced Kyrie,” said Clippers assistant coach Brian Shaw, who was filling in for an ailing Tyronn Lue during pregame access. “I think it was a couple years ago. But much like Doncic, he’s going to have the ball in his hand a lot we anticipate.

“We’re going to have to pay great attention to him and just try to keep him under control, make him work for everything.”

Turned out, Irving wasn’t the only player the Clippers needed to focus on. Reggie Bullock scored 18 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. had 15, Josh Green added 14 and Dwight Powell had 10.

Fatigue after their longest road trip of the season (six games) was evident. Several times in the second half, the Clippers pulled to within one point of tying the score but couldn’t get stops on the other end.

The Clippers closed to within 81-78 at the end of the third quarter but the Mavericks went on a 13-6 run to take a 10-point lead with 6:41 left in the game. The Mavericks’ Theo Pinson scored all nine of his points during the run, giving one more player the Clippers had to worry about.

The Clippers managed to find an extra gear late in the fourth, going on a 9-4 run to cut the lead to 98-93. After Dallas scored, Paul George scored on a short jumper to keep the score within five. He later buried a 3-pointer to trim the lead to five with 16.7 left.

A foul by Terance Mann sent Hardaway Jr. to the free-throw line to push the Mavericks’ lead to 110-104 and the Clippers (31-27) saw their modest two-game winning streak end despite getting solid performances from Norman Powell (24 points) Mann (21), George (20) and Kawhi Leonard (18).

Lue has said that one of the toughest games teams can play is when they return home after a long trip. That was apparently true for the Clippers on Wednesday.

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Playing their first game after a six-game Eastern swing, the Clippers trailed by as many as 19 in the first half. Not helping matters was the slower-than-usual start by their stars. Leonard scored his first and only points of the first half on a 15-footer with 3:14 remaining, while George had just 10 points and two assists in 15 minutes.

Others, however, picked up the slack down the stretch, namely Mann and Ivica Zubac, to cut the Mavericks’ lead to 60-52 at the half. Mann finished with 21 points and Zubac had 9 points and 10 rebounds.

Irving made his presence known early, posting 13 first-half points, including a 29-footer to push the Mavericks to a 51-35 lead with 6:55 left, causing Lue to call a timeout. It didn’t slow the Mavericks, who continued to shred the Clippers’ defense in the first half.

Fouls and a few costly turnovers gave the Clippers an opening, and they responded by scoring eight consecutive points in the final two minutes to narrow the Mavericks’ lead.

More to come on this story.