The Dallas Mavericks fended off a challenge from the Golden State Warriors to win their seventh straight title, even without ace Luka Doncic.
Dallas defeated Golden State 108-106 on Saturday night (Jan. 6) at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, in their 2023-2024 NBA regular season home game.
With their second straight win, Dallas improved to 47-30 and moved into fifth place in the Western Conference. Golden State, whose two-game winning streak was halted at six games by the two-point loss, fell to 42-35 and 10th place. 홀덤 The loss also pushed Golden State further out of the playoff picture.
In the NBA, the sixth-place finisher in each conference in the regular season makes the playoffs, while the seventh through 10th place finishers earn the two remaining playoff tickets through a play-in tournament.
Golden State maintained a four-game lead over the 11th-place Houston Rockets (38-39), who lost to the Miami Heat on Sunday, to improve their chances of making the playoffs, but fell four games behind the sixth-place Phoenix Suns (46-31), who beat the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Without Doncic, who did not play due to a sore knee, Dallas was led by P.J. Washington, who poured in 32 points to go along with five rebounds and five steals.
Leading 105-99 with 1:43 left in the fourth quarter, Dallas faced a 106-106 tie with 13 seconds left in regulation before Washington scored the game-winner on a layup with 4.1 seconds left.
Kyrie Irving added 26 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while Daniel Gafford recorded a double-double (10 points, 15 rebounds, five assists).
Golden State’s Steph Curry had 28 points, including five 3-pointers, six rebounds and five assists, but he wasn’t smiling.
The Toronto Raptors snapped an excruciating 15-game losing streak with a 117-111 road victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Toronto, already out of the playoff picture, dropped to 24-53 and 12th in the Eastern Conference.
Gary Trent Jr. led the Raptors with 31 points, including seven 3-pointers, and RJ Barrett added 26 points and seven rebounds.
Second-place Milwaukee (47-30), which was without Yanis Adetokunbo because of a hamstring (back thigh muscle) injury, lost its third straight despite Damian Lillard’s 36 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Milwaukee has been in a slump lately, getting swept by the Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies, and Toronto, all of whom are at the bottom of their respective conferences.
