Mavericks at Spurs
Dirk Nowitzki gave his fans a finale for the ages and the Dallas Mavericks superstar has one more chance to suit up when his team visits the San Antonio Spurs for the last game of the regular season Wednesday. Nowitzki scored a season-high 30 points to lead the Mavericks to a 120-109 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday before being honored in a postgame event featuring appearances by Hall of Famers Larry Bird, Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen, as well as a long-awaited announcement.
"As you guys might expect, this is my last home game," Nowitzki told the crowd in the emotional ceremony that put to rest any lingering thoughts that he might surprise everyone with another season. Amid all the hoopla, the Spurs have more serious matters to tend to as they try for the best possible seed in the Western Conference entering the playoffs and potentially avoid a first-round matchup with defending champion Golden State. San Antonio is tied with the Los Angeles Clippers at the back end of the race and one game behind sixth-place Oklahoma City entering the last day. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has 1,411 career wins between the regular season and the playoffs, one shy of tying Lenny Wilkens' all-time record.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, KTXA (Dallas), KENS 5 (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (33-48): Nowitzki was 11-of-31 from the floor - including 5-of-14 from 3-point range to move past Joe Johnson (1.980) and into 11th place on the league's all-time list for made 3s. Rookie Luka Doncic finished with 21 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists for his eighth triple-double and fourth in the last eight games. Jason Kidd owns the franchise record for triple-doubles in a season with nine.
ABOUT THE SPURS (47-34): San Antonio is picking on some of the league's lesser opponents down the stretch and ended a three-game road trip with runaway wins at Washington and Cleveland. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the 112-90 win over the Cavaliers on Sunday, giving the Spurs a chance with a win in the finale and some help elsewhere of seizing the sixth seed. "There is a whole lot riding on that," guard Bryn Forbes told reporters. "We can be sixth or we can be eighth. But I think we just want to finish strong too, heading into the playoffs no matter where we are at."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nowitzki has averaged 19.0 points in 77 career games against the Spurs, his lowest average versus any Western Conference team.
2. Mavericks SF Justin Jackson has 26 points with only one rebound and one assist over 48 minutes in his last two games.
3. San Antonio is 21-4 at home against West opponents.