Warriors Clinch Home-Court Advantage, Beat Mavs 123-110
DALLAS (CBS/AP) -- Klay Thompson scored 21 points and the Golden State Warriors clinched home-court advantage throughout the playoffs with their 12th straight victory, beating the Dallas Mavericks 123-110 Saturday night.
The Warriors (63-13) need one more victory to assure finishing with the best record in the NBA for the first time since 1975-76. They hold the tiebreaker on Atlanta for the top overall seed.
Stephen Curry scored 11 points while big men Andre Iguodala and Maurice Speights got into the long-range fun mostly reserved for the Splash Brothers, Curry and Thompson. Both finished with 18 points.
Dirk Nowitzki had 18 points to lead the Mavericks, who lost for the sixth time in eight games but are close to securing the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
Dallas, already without Chandler Parsons because of right knee soreness, lost point guard Rajon Rondo to a hyperextended left knee in the third quarter. Rondo, acquired in a trade with Boston in December, missed large parts of two seasons with the Celtics because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
The burly 6-10 Speights hit a running 3-pointer from just inside half court to beat the halftime buzzer, then had another one in the second half. He had just three all season coming in. Thompson led the Warriors with 5-of-10 shooting from long range, while Iguodala matched a season high by making four of nine.
Curry, who made 10 of 16 from beyond the arc when he scored a season-high 51 points against Dallas in February, was just 1 of 4 this time and scored just one point after halftime.
The Warriors didn't need him.
Speights gave Golden State a double-digit halftime lead when he caught an inbounds pass from under the basket at half court, dribbled a couple of times and threw up a shot that swished with the buzzer sounding. He ran off the court laughing.
In the second half, Speights used a pump fake to set up a dunk before grabbing a loose ball after a miss and beating the shot clock by banking one in. His other 3 came in the fourth quarter.
Golden State didn't act much like a team that never trailed, with assistant coach Jarron Collins getting called for a technical while leaving the floor after Speights' halftime shot. Monta Ellis missed the free throw to start the second half.
After Festus Ezeli got a technical for complaining to the refs, Shaun Livingston was called for a flagrant foul when video review showed him punching Nowitzki in the side while the big German was backing in for a shot. The crowd booed Livingston every time he touched the ball after that.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Draymond Green returned after missing three games, the first for rest and two because of shin inflammation. He had five points and six rebounds. ... Golden State had seven players in double figures. The others were Harrison Barnes, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Leandro Barbosa and Ezeli with 10 apiece.
Mavericks: Dallas had season highs in free throws and attempts, going 39 of 54. Nowitzki was 12 of 15 from the line. ... Tyson Chandler had his 29th double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
UP NEXT
Warriors: at San Antonio on Sunday.
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