Mavericks fall to Bulls, eliminated from play-in race

Coby White scored 24 points and the short-handed Chicago Bullsrallied past the depleted Mavericks 115-112 on Friday night,eliminating Dallas from play-in contention a year after the clubreached the Western Conference finals.

Dallas coach Jason Kidd said before the game an “organizationaldecision” was made to limit Luka Doncic to the first quarter whilesitting fellow All-Star Kyrie Irving and four other regulars beforethe club was eliminated from the postseason.

Despite the move, the Mavericks led by double digits whenMarkieff Morris scored 13 points in the second quarter and rookieJaden Hardy hit a half-court shot to beat the halftime buzzer for a67-54 lead.

Neither Morris nor Hardy played in the second half, and a lineupfilled mostly with players who spent the season at the end of theDallas bench lost the lead but kept the game close.

McKinley Wright IV's layup got Dallas within a point with 39seconds left before Dalen Terry scored on an alley-oop dunk fromWhite with 23 to go.

Theo Pinson missed a potential tying 3-pointer for Dallas, whichhad three more attempts at a tying 3 in the final seconds.

The loss clinched the 10th seed and final play-in spot in theWestern Conference for Oklahoma City.

Irving was out for right foot injury recovery. The otherssitting with him were Tim Hardaway Jr. with left ankle soreness,Maxi Kleber for right hamstring injury recovery and Josh Green andChristian Wood for rest.

The Bulls sat their top two scorers in DeMar DeRozan and ZachLaVine, but they are already locked in to the 10th seed in theEast. Patrick Williams scored 23 points, and Nikola Vucevic had 20points and 10 rebounds.

Doncic, who scored 13 points, ended up playing a few secondsinto the second quarter on a night when the Mavericks paid tributeto his home country of Slovenia.

Keeping Doncic in was an apparent attempt to get him an ovationafter Kidd suggested before the game it would be the 24-year-oldsuperstar's final action of the season. The move didn't workbecause fans didn't seem aware and therefore didn't cheer.

Kidd said the decision was made by owner Mark Cuban and generalmanager Nico Harrison to rest most of the regulars. Dallas enteredthe game tied with Chicago for the 10th-worst record in theNBA.

If the Mavericks have a top-10 pick in the draft in June, theyget to keep it. If the pick is 11th or lower, it goes to the NewYork Knicks as final payment for Dallas' trade to acquire KristapsPorzingis in 2019. Next month's draft lottery will determine thefinal order.

Wright joined Doncic and Morris with 13 points to lead theMavs.

SCORING RACE

Doncic's limited action in most likely his last game of theseason should clinch the scoring title for Philadelphia's JoelEmbiid. Doncic is at 32.4 points per game to Embiid's 33.1. TheSixers' MVP candidate is probably finished for the regular seasonwith his team locked in to the third seed in the East.

UP NEXT

Both teams are at home for their regular-season finales Sunday.The Bulls play Detroit. The Mavs face San Antonio.