Spurs 96, Mavericks 91
DALLAS -- It appeared San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich conceded the regular-season finale to the Dallas Mavericks.
Someone forgot to tell his Spurs.
A ragtag version of the Spurs rallied from 18 points down to beat the Mavericks 96-91 on Wednesday at American Airlines Center.
With six of the main Spurs left behind in San Antonio, little-used reserves such as center Boban Marjanovic and guard Jonathan Simmons led an unlikely comeback against a Dallas squad largely intact.
The loss meant the Mavericks (42-40) couldn't finish any higher than the sixth playoff seed in the Western Conference. Dallas came into the game with an outside shot of moving up to fifth, but needed to beat the Spurs.
The Mavericks will be the seventh seed if Memphis wins at Golden State later Wednesday night.
As the sixth seed, Dallas would open the postseason at Oklahoma City. Seventh means heading south to San Antonio.
Playoff openers are Saturday and Sunday.
Game No. 82 had virtually no meaning for the Spurs, who had long since clinched the West's second seed and the best record in franchise history. San Antonio (67-15) could also play Memphis in the first round.
Playing on the second half of a back-to-back, Popovich elected to rest the majority of his top guns. Six regulars stayed home, including MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge and Tony Parker.
What was left of the Spurs put up a valiant fight. Despite being down 52-34 at the half, San Antonio pulled even in the third quarter and took a 78-77 lead on Danny Green's 3-pointer midway through the fourth.
San Antonio held on down the stretch to sweep the four-game season series against its Southwest Division rival.
Marjanovic, filling in for Tim Duncan, scored 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 8 of 8 from the line, and grabbed 12 rebounds. Simmons scored a season-high 19. Small forward Kyle Anderson scored 15 and Green had 12.
Point guard Raymond Felton scored 22 off the bench to lead Dallas, with Dirk Nowitzki adding 19 points. Nowitzki made only 5-of-17 shots as the Mavericks shot 40.3 percent.
NOTES: San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich gave PF LaMarcus Aldridge, C Tim Duncan, G Manu Ginobili, SF Kawhi Leonard, PG Tony Parker and F David West the night off. Popovich was asked why he didn't skip the regular-season finale. "You know, I thought about it," he said. "I didn't think it'd look good. It might look like don't give a (expletive). And I would never want to portray that kind of attitude." ... The Mavericks were without G J.J. Barea (groin) and G Devin Harris (thumb). Mavs coach Rick Carlisle is "optimistic" Barea will be fully recovered for the playoffs. ... Dallas owner Mark Cuban on Kobe Bryant: "I'm a huge Kobe fan now that he's retiring."