OAKLAND, California—Dirk Nowitzki added one more memorable game in his final visit to Oracle Arena, scoring a season-high 21 points and insisting he couldn’t remember whether it was a chair or a trash can that he threw into a wall opposite the visitors’ locker room at one of his favorite arenas.
Luka Doncic had a triple-double and the Dallas Mavericks capitalized on Stephen Curry’s absence to beat the Golden State Warriors, 126-91, on Saturday night.
Nowitzki, 40, who is in his 21st and perhaps final season with the Mavericks, got a rare start and a rousing ovation from the Oracle crowd. He came out and torched the Warriors with 10 points in the game’s first four minutes, and the Mavs jumped out to a 22-7 lead. They never trailed in the game.
“The last few games I didn’t have a good shooting rhythm,” Nowitzki said. “Today, I had it early and often.”
Golden State dropped out of the top seed in the Western Conference to a half-game behind Denver. With Curry resting, Kevin Durant had 25 points, and DeMarcus Cousins scored 19. But the Warriors were 4 for 30 from three-point range, while the Mavs went 21 of 49 from behind the arc.
“We just couldn’t pull together after that slow start and we never could get any traction in the game,” Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said. “So we just kind of flush this one down the toilet and move on to tomorrow, not much else to do.”
Doncic had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, and Dallas ended a 12-game losing streak in Oakland, where it last won in April 2012. The Mavs built their lead to 43 early in the final quarter.
Nowitzki scored his first National Basketball Association (NBA) basket at Oracle Arena, which is closing after this season, and some of his career highs and lows also came in Oakland. In 2007, the Warriors shocked the 67-win Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs—prompting Nowitzki to throw something through the wall. The hole has never been repaired.
“Great memories, bad memories here,” he said. “This has always been a fun building, a fun atmosphere to play. I’ll always remember this building.”
In Atlanta, Trae Young scored 32 points, including a last-second, go-ahead floater, as Atlanta ended Philadelphia’s six-game winning streak, 129-127.
With 3.5 seconds remaining, Young took the inbound pass from Kevin Huerter and dribbled past Jimmy Butler before sinking the short, soft jumper for the lead with 0.1 seconds remaining. Butler missed a long attempt as the final buzzer sounded.
Taurean Prince had 23 points for Atlanta.
Joel Embiid had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and Butler had 25 points for Philadelphia.
The 76ers began the night with a solid hold on third place in the Eastern Conference, 3 1/2 games ahead of Indiana and four games ahead of Boston.
Rudy Gobert had 21 points and 14 rebounds, and Utah rolled to one of its most lopsided wins of the season—114-83 over Chicago.
The 31-point margin of victory was just three shy of Utah’s season high. The Jazz raced out to a 70-36 halftime lead and never looked back in winning for the sixth time in seven games.
Donovan Mitchell added 16 points and eight rebounds. Derrick Favors scored 13.
Lauri Markkanen led Chicago with 18 points and 10 rebounds. He made just 6 of 20 shots, and the Bulls delivered one of their worst performances in a rough season.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 33 points and 23 rebounds, and Minnesota ended a five-game slide with a 112-99 win over Memphis.
Andrew Wiggins added 22 points and rookie Josh Okogie had 17 as Minnesota, eliminated from the playoffs on Friday night, ended its longest losing streak of the season. All five Minnesota starters reached double figures in scoring.
Mike Conley led Memphis with 23 points, and Jonas Valanciunas had 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Dwyane Wade scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, helping Miami remain alone in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with the Heat’s 113-108 victory over the Washington Wizards. Wade also had nine rebounds while scoring in double digits for a ninth consecutive game.
Dion Waiters added 19 points and Josh Richardson had 18 for Miami, which remained a game ahead of Orlando in the race for the East’s last playoff spot. Bam Adebayo had 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Jeff Green scored 25 points for Washington, which has lost four straight. Thomas Bryant had 17 points, Bobby Portis Jr. added 14 and both grabbed 11 rebounds. The 11th-place Wizards fell 6 1/2 games behind Miami with eight to play.
Image credits: AP