Paul George played down the severity of the Los Angeles Clippers' defeat to the Dallas Mavericks as the All-Star took full responsibility for the crushing loss in the NBA.

The Clippers were humiliated by Luka Doncic's Mavericks on Sunday, beaten 124-73 in the absence of star Kawhi Leonard.

Dallas produced a record-breaking first half as they earned a 77-27 lead at the interval – the Mavericks' 50-point advantage the largest through two quarters since the shot-clock era began in 1954-55.

George posted 15 points on four-of-13 shooting from the field, while he missed all six of his three-point attempts at home to the red-hot Mavericks.

"It's not that big of a deal," George said after the Clippers (2-1) suffered their worst loss in franchise history, having topped the Denver Nuggets on Christmas Day. "We got our butts whipped today, but it's one day.

"We wasn't ready today. We wasn't prepared. That's on me. So, we'll be ready for the next game."

"I take full responsibility," George added. "You know, it's a tough game coming [after] Christmas. I enjoyed my Christmas Day [celebration] yesterday. Today just popped up on me a little too fast.

"I'll take full ownership for that, coming out and being prepared to play today. Be a different situation come next game, and we will be ready."

It is the first time in NBA regular-season history that a team won a road game by 50-plus points against a franchise that had a .650 or better winning percentage the season before, per Stats Perform.

"Just an exception," Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said. "It doesn't take away from what we've been doing and what we've been working on and how we're trying to get better each night.

"[There] wasn't a lot of fight, a lot of pop tonight, and we know we'll have that come next game."