Mavericks outlast Suns in tight race for NBA playoffs
Güncelleme Tarihi:
DALLAS - Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points and the Dallas Mavericks clinched the eighth and final National Basketball Association playoff berth from the Western Conference by beating Utah 130-101 on Wednesday.
This will be the ninth season in a row the Mavericks have reached the playoffs but they still have unfinished business as they try to move out of the eighth seed position and a date with the assured top seed Los Angeles Lakers.
Dallas' victory eliminated the Phoenix Suns and set the post-season clubs in the West as the Lakers, Denver, Portland, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans, Utah and Dallas.
The Mavericks are level with Utah at seventh at 47-31 with New Orelans at 48-30. Dallas and New Orleans meet twice this weekend.
Jason Terry added 21 points while Jose Juan Barea had 18 for the Mavericks. Deron Williams led Utah with 18 points and 12 assists while Andrei Kirilenko added 17 and Ronnie Brewer 16 for the Jazz, who trailed 61-45 at half-time and were outscored in every quarter.
Dallas’ victory canceled out Phoenix Suns’ big win over the New Orleans Hornets.
Steve Nash scored 24 points, six of them on free throws in the final minute, to give the Phoenix Suns a 105-100 victory over New Orleans, but the Suns were eliminated from the Western Conference playoff hunt.
The Canadian guard also added 17 assists Wednesday while Shaquille O'Neal contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds as Phoenix improved to 43-35.
New Orleans was led by 29 points and 16 assists from Chris Paul and 28 points and 12 rebounds from David West, but it was Serbian sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic's 30-pointer with 26 seconds to play that pulled the Hornets within 100-97 before Nash nailed his free throws to secure victory.
The Suns had not beaten the Hornets in two seasons but did so with their playoff hopes at stake thanks to Nash, O'Neal and 17 points from Jason Richardson.
O'Neal went 7-of-10 from the field to boost his NBA-best shooting percent of better than 61 percent.
Stojakovic finished with 18 points while Grant Hill and Jared Dudley each scored 10 for Phoenix.
LeBron James scored 21 points in only three quarters of work Wednesday as the Cleveland Cavaliers improved to 38-1 at home this season with a 98-86 victory over Washington. The Cavaliers improved their NBA-best overall record to 63-15.