SAN FRANCISCO — During a timeout midway through the final quarter, Warriors fans jumped on the Bee Gee's “Staying Alive” and went wild. The song also seemed to represent the final moments of this very long and equally successful Mavericks road trip.
Dallas, trailing by six points at the time, made a final push to tie the score at 92-92 with 4:25 remaining, but the team ultimately played in front of a sold-out Chase Center crowd of 18,064 on Tuesday night. They lost to Golden State 104-100 in front of a national TNT audience. .
The Mavericks' winning streak ended at seven, and their longest 11-day trip of the season ended with a still tough record of 4 wins and 1 loss, but Dallas didn't lose without a fight.
“I'm human, just like the rest of my teammates, so I definitely felt that in this last game after being on the road for 10 days,” he said, still making 10 of 19 shots and 27. Kyrie Irving, who recorded the points, said. “We wanted to make this game really bad, but we didn't put in enough effort offensively or defensively, and it showed.”
Irving made two free throws with 15 seconds left to pull Dallas within 102-100, but Klay Thompson's free throw with 10.3 seconds left extended the advantage to four points.
For the Mavericks (45-30), Luka Doncic had 30 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists, and Irving had 27 points, but they shot 43 percent, had 15 turnovers, and six Warriors players scored in double figures. It was not even close to being recorded.
“It was a long road trip, but we're not going to use that as an excuse,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We really believed we were going to be in a position to win tonight, but we just fell short.”
Dallas is obviously without rookie backup center Derek Lively II, who could be out for up to two weeks with a sore right knee. Golden State's bench outscored Dallas 39-13.
When asked what the Mavericks were missing by playing without Lively, P.J. Washington said, “Just his presence.” “A lot of guys just look at him over there and don't even want to try. As long as I've been here, I've seen him improve and get better at rebounding, blocking shots, running the floor. I've seen it.
“I think he was missed, but it’s a next-man-up mentality and we just come and play.”
With two wins at Utah, two at Sacramento and Sunday's win at Houston, the Mavericks were looking to become the third team in Dallas to go undefeated in five or more games. The franchise went 6-0 on the road in March 2007 and 5-0 on the road in January 2006.
Playing the final night of an 11-day, five-game trip, the Mavericks appeared to finally run out of gas after leading 27-23 late in the first quarter.
Golden State scored 26 of its 33 points, including a 17-2 run, to take a 49-36 lead with 3:13 left in the first half. Dallas seemed to be in an uproar.
Conversely, the Mavericks ended the first half on a 13-0 run, eventually outscoring them 23-2 to take a 59-51 lead.
“If you look at this road trip, we were down, we didn't play well, but we stayed together,” Kidd said. “And I also understood that there is a first half to the game.”
The Warriors regained an 80-74 lead in the fourth quarter before Dallas made a final push.
Hours before Tuesday's game, Doncic was named the Western Conference Player of the Month for the second consecutive month, proving his fierce on-court momentum in the NBA Most Valuable Player race.
Doncic averaged 32.5 points, 10.1 assists and 10.1 rebounds as Dallas went 11-4 in March. Doncic has won three of the past six West Player of the Week awards. He and Boston's Jayson Tatum are the only players to win multiple Player of the Month awards this season.
“As a leader, you can tell he’s put us in a good position with the record,” Kidd said. “He's playing at a very high level. I think he's one of the best players in the world. He'll definitely be in the MVP discussion.
“The group around him, his teammates are also playing at a high level to help him and it’s fun to watch as well.”
This was the third of four meetings between the Mavericks and Warriors this season. Dallas leads the season series 2-1. If these teams do not meet in the postseason, their final matchup will be Friday at American Airlines Center.
Warriors manager Steve Kerr said, “Jason has put the team together really well. The team is doing well. We're probably the hottest team in the league right now.''
The Warriors (41-34) will be just as desperate when they come to Dallas on Friday, as they are 10th in the West and clinging to the final play-in spot in the postseason.
“There's a lot of teams that are serious about it,” Kerr said of the Western Conference. “And that's unusual. I think if you look at the last 20 years or so, it feels like in this modern era of the NBA, there have been a few teams that have made some effort. Many others. The team is preparing for the future.
“I feel like everyone is moving towards it right now, between us and the Lakers, Dallas, Phoenix, Denver. And we also know that we're missing some teams. A lot of teams. is now trading assets to load up. And it shows. Certainly this is the deepest and best thing I've ever seen in the West.”
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