CHICAGO — Klay Thompson scored 20 points, P.J. Washington had 19, and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Chicago Bulls 120-119 on Saturday night (Sunday, March 30, 2025, PH time).
Dallas moved 1 1/2 games ahead of idle Phoenix for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament.
Anthony Davis added 18 points and Spencer Dinwiddie had 14 points and 11 assists to help the Mavericks win for the second straight game and fourth time in the last five.
Dallas led by 11 points late in the fourth quarter but Chicago cut it to 118-116 with 8.6 seconds left. Thompson made two free throws two seconds later and the Mavericks were careful not to foul Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic, who made a 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds to play.
Rookie Matas Buzelis scored 28 points for Chicago. Vucevic and Coby White each added 25. The Bull had won four straight and nine of 11.
Dallas, Sacramento and Phoenix are fighting for the final two play-in spots in the West.
The Bulls, seeking a season-best fifth straight victory, missed a chance to move closer to the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Mavericks gave Vucevic plenty of room on his final 3-pointer, ensuring the Bulls, who beat the Lakers a few nights earlier, wouldn’t have another flurry of late dramatics.
Dinwiddie was 5 for 8 from the floor in the fourth quarter, including a cutting layup with 36 seconds left.
Lakers 134, Grizzlies 127
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Austin Reaves had 31 points and eight assists, Luka Doncic added 29 points and nine assists, and the Los Angeles Lakers held on for a 134-127 win over Memphis in the Grizzlies’ first game under interim coach Tuomas Iisalo.
LeBron James scored 25 points as the Lakers led by 20 points in the first half, but squandered the advantage to make it a close game in the fourth quarter.
Desmond Bane led Memphis with 29 points, while Jaren Jackson Jr. added 24 points. Ja Morant finished with 22 points and 10 assists.
Iisalo took over Friday night hours after Memphis fired Taylor Jenkins, the winningest coach in franchise history, with nine games left in the regular season.
While the Lakers had played well in their previous 36 games, they came in losers of four of their last five, including a last-second loss at Chicago on Thursday night. The game was close but did not have the late drama.
Memphis went 1-4 on a five-game road trip coming back home still reeling after the first of three games in four nights.
The teams exchanged the lead through the middle part of the fourth quarter when Doncic entered with about eight minutes left. After four straight points from Doncic and a 3-pointer from Dorian Finney-Smith, the Lakers had retaken the lead.
Midway through the second quarter, the Lakers had made a dozen 3-pointers and were shooting at 55 percent as they built the lead to 20 before Memphis cut the advantage to trail 72-61 at halftime. The Lakers ended up making 19 3-pointers, one short of their season-high.
Elsewhere, the Boston Celtics beat the San Antonio Spurs 121-111, Oklahoma City Thunder topped Indiana Pacers 132-111, Orlando Magic routed Sacramento Kings 121-91, Washington Wizards edged Brooklyn Nets 115-112 and the Miami Heat clobbered the Philadelphia 76ers 118-95. / AP