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Mavs beat Grizzlies to secure No. 5 seed
Winning 50 games and making the playoffs was apparently enough to satisfy the Memphis Grizzlies, who didn't put up much of a fight against the Dallas Mavericks with the Western Conference's fifth seed on the line.
The Mavs finished 36-5 at home, tops in the league and the best in the franchise's 24-year history. However, by going 15-25 on the road, Dallas can't host a playoff series — a first for the league's best home team since Utah in 1990-91.
Memphis, which lost its third straight and fifth in six games, trailed by 13 after one quarter and was down at least nine until the final minute.
The Grizzlies will have the sixth seed.
Either team could wind up playing Minnesota, the Lakers, San Antonio or Sacramento in the first round.
It'll all be settled Wednesday night with the regular-season finales. The Grizzlies will be a player in how things work out because they play the Timberwolves at home. The Mavs close at Houston, which already has locked up the seventh spot.
Considering how unsettled the playoff race was, fans came were expecting an intense game. They were disappointed from the start.
At 6:36 of the first quarter, Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki picked up his third foul, just 31 seconds after getting his second. That sent Memphis' James Posey to the line — and he missed both shots.
Posey missed a dunk the next time down the court, part of a 6-for-20 first quarter for the Grizzlies. Their final shot was typical of their focus: Bonzi Wells threw a three-quarter court rainbow that went over the top of the backboard; he let it fly about two seconds before the buzzer.
The Mavs led by 13 after one because they were hitting open shots. Only one of their 13 first-quarter baskets came in the paint. They stretched the lead to 19 in the second and went up by 22 late in the third quarter on a tough jumper by Nowitzki and a powerful dunk by Daniels.
Steve Nash had 25 points for Dallas and Antawn Jamison made his first eight shots while scoring 18. Nowitzki had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Michael Finley scored nine after missing the last two games with bruised ribs.
Bonzi Wells, out the last four games because of back spasms, led the Grizzlies with 27 points. Jason Williams had 14 and Pau Gasol, back from a four-game absence because of a sore right foot, had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Notes:@ Dallas and Memphis could wind up tied in the standings, but the Mavericks get the higher seed on a tiebreaker. ... The public-address announcer introduced Antawn Jamison as the "Sixth Man of the Year." At the next dead ball, Mavs owner Mark Cuban came over to clarify to the announcer that Jamison should be called the "leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate." ... The first 5,000 fans received giant foam caricatures of Nowitzki's face. Made in the form of foam fingers, from afar they look a lot like Shawn Bradley with a goatee. |
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