|
LOS ANGELES: Golden State and the Los Angeles
Clippers took their fight for the final vacant National Basketball
Association playoff berth into the final night of the season after
each won Tuesday.
Golden State, 41-40, completed a
season sweep of NBA win leader Dallas with a 111-82 victory that was
aided by the Mavericks sitting out German star Dirk Nowitzki to rest
him for this weekend’s start of the playoffs.
The Warriors, trying to end the
longest active NBA playoff absence after 12 seasons, might play
Dallas in the first round after being the first Western Conference
team since 2001 to sweep the Mavericks in a season series.
The Clippers, 40-41, won 103-99
at Phoenix to sustain their hopes of overtaking the Warriors and
reaching the playoffs. After nearly six months, their seasons will
come down to Wednesday’s final tip-offs of the regular season when
the New Orleans Hornets, 38-43, visit the Clippers in a game
starting 30 minutes after Golden State opens at Portland.
The Warriors need a victory or a
Clippers loss to capture a playoff spot while the Clippers must
defeat New Orleans and have the Warriors lose to Portland. That
would leave the clubs level for the season and equal in the
standings and the Clippers would advance because they own the
tie-breaker edge on the Warriors based upon a better record in games
within the Pacific Division.
|
