Dallas (USA), May 14 (EFE) .- Slovenian point guard Luka Doncic had his eleventh triple-double of the season with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists and the Dallas Mavericks made sure to be among the top six of the Western Conference, which exempted them from playing the play-in tournament next week, after beating the Toronto Raptors 14-110.
It was the 36th triple-double in Doncic’s career, ranking 11th on the NBA’s all-time list. He’s still seven behind Fat Lever for the top 10, but now three ahead of the legendary Bob Cousy.
Latvian center Kristaps Porzingis, who finished with a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds, made a triple on the first shot of the game and the Mavericks never lost the lead in the last game of the regular season they played at their home field.
Although the Raptors were close to completing the comeback or reaching the game into overtime.
Toronto used just seven players, without its top seven scorers, primarily due to injuries, but also with the season drawing to a close and the Raptors out of the competition even for a place in the Eastern Conference entry tournament.
Toronto, trailing by 19 points early in the second half, was within 105-102 on a triple by Malachi Flynn with three minutes remaining, which followed a turnover from the Mavericks after their layup.
But power forward Dorian Finney-Smith responded with a triple for Dallas and Doncic then controlled the ball for a one-handed layup.
Doncic had previously bounced his own failed short jump and followed it up with a nifty layup.
Raptors rookie Jalen Harris, a Dallas native who makes his second career start in as many nights, had 31 points to lead Toronto. Flynn had 26 points.
The Mavericks (42-29), Southeast Division winners, are in fifth place in the West, with a one game lead over Portland (41-30) for the fifth seed and one regular season game remaining for both teams.
The Trail Blazers have the tiebreaker if they finish with the same record, as they won two of three against Dallas this season.
Teams that finish seventh through tenth in each conference are forced to play games next week to determine who advances.
The top six teams get a long layoff after a condensed regular-season schedule, albeit 10 games fewer than usual, due to the pandemic.
Forward Stanley Johnson had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto, which extended a franchise record with his 37th different starting lineup this season. It was the ninth consecutive game that they used a different starting five.
(c) EFE Agency