AFP/New York
Australian Patty Mills scored 26 points on Thursday to lead San Antonio to a 109-100 victory over Dallas that moved the Spurs closer to clinching the NBA’s best record. |
Kawhi Leonard finished with 16 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for San Antonio, who were without Tony Parker for the second straight game as the star point guard continued to recover from a back sprain.
With the victory, San Antonio stayed on course to secure the best record in the league and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Spurs notched their 61st victory of the season, and are all but certain to finish atop the Western Conference with three games remaining.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, who have four games remaining, have a record of 57-21.
The Spurs need to win only one of their last three games or have the Thunder lose one for San Antonio to claim the Western Conference’s top seed.
The Spurs got a scare when superstar Tim Duncan left the game in the first quarter to have his right knee examined, but Duncan returned to the contest and finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
Danny Green drained five three-pointers for 15 points, and Tiago Splitter chipped in 12 points.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, fell into a virtual tie with Phoenix for seventh place in the Western Conference with the defeat.
Dallas have played two more games than the Suns, and the two teams will meet today in Dallas.
Monta Ellis led the Mavericks with 24 points and Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 with six rebounds in his first game since he became the 10th-highest scorer in NBA history on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, Kenneth Faried hit a 10-foot turnaround jumper in the lane with half a second remaining to lift the Denver Nuggets to a stunning road victory that prevented the Golden State Warriors from clinching a playoff spot. Nuggets beat Warriors 100-99.
The Warriors appeared headed to their clinching win when Stephen Curry drove through the Denver defense to hit a five-foot flip shot that put Golden State up 99-98 with 4.7 seconds left.
Following a timeout, Faried took an inbounds pass and drove into the key guarded by Warriors forward Draymond Green. Faried then spun and connected from in front of the hoop to stun a Golden State crowd that was preparing to celebrate a return to the postseason.
Curry missed a long three-point attempt for Golden State as time expired.
Winning for the second time in two nights, the Nuggets (35-44) dominated the boards, outrebounding Golden State 63-38, as they came from 20 points down in the second period.
The loss dropped the Warriors 2 ½ games behind Portland in the race for the fifth playoff spot in the Western Conference. Golden State (48-30) must win at least one of their final four games to clinch a spot in the postseason.