crowding dallas mavericks They will continue to strive for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs when they host an in-state opponent on Sunday. houston rockets.
Dallas (47-30) defeated the Golden State Warriors 108-106 on Friday, winning nine of its past 10 games and 13 of its last 15.
With MVP contender Luka Doncic out with a sore right knee, P.J. Washington scored 32 points against the Warriors, his highest since joining the Warriors. Mavericks During February. Kyrie Irving had 26 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.
Irving has played in 28 consecutive games, his longest streak since the 2015-16 season with the champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Dallas is 21-7 in those games.
Irving, who averaged 25.4 points and 5.2 assists, said: “I was able to get healthy and put together a lot of games and prove what I've always known to be true, which is to have a positive impact on wins.'' '', he said of his stable running. game by game. “When I’m on the floor, I give my team a chance to win.
“I'm not saying I can do everything, but I feel like I can go out there and contribute offensively, and defensively I'm just going to be in as good a position as I can.”
He took revenge with Friday's victory. MavericksTheir winning streak ended at seven with a 104-100 road loss to the Warriors on Tuesday. The surge moves Dallas into fifth place in the Western Conference, two games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the fourth seed and home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
A win for Dallas over No. 10 Golden State, the last spot in the West, would have been a boost for No. 11 Houston.but rocket Friday's 119-104 loss at home to the Miami Heat dealt another blow to their dwindling hopes of reaching the play-ins.
Houston (38-39) ended its 11-game winning streak and was dragged to Dallas on a four-game losing streak. With consecutive wins, rocket They surged into the play-in picture, but their missteps left them four games behind the Warriors with five games remaining in the regular season.
“I just took the right steps, the right feet, played the right way and finished.” rocket Coach Ime Udoka spoke Friday about the team's waning commitment to the play-in tournament. “We're not going to go back to the past that didn't bring us success throughout the season or even in the past few years. Just continue to build on what we've achieved this year and finish on a good note.”
Houston's current 38 wins mark an improvement of 16 wins from a season ago and 18 wins from the 2021-22 season.
The 2023-24 season saw significant progress from third-year center Alperen Sengun, who averaged 21.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. Third-year wing Jaylen Green continued to perform well down the stretch, scoring 30 or more points in 11 games since Jan. 26.
And while the play-ins may be out of reach, Houston could also play in a season series against Dallas.
Houston's losing trend started in their last meeting on March 31st. Mavericks. Doncic scored 47 points and contributed to an NBA-leading 33.8 points per game.
Dallas won 121-115 against Houston on November 28th. rocket Doncic took the loss after scoring 41 points in the first matchup.
—Field Level Media
