Luka Doncic finished with 29 points, Kyrie Irving scored 25 and the Dallas Mavericks secured the Southwest Division by defeating the Miami Heat 111-92 at Kaseya Center in Miami, FL.
Luka also had 9 boards and 9 assists for the Mavericks, which will play against the LA Clippers in the 1st round of the postseason in the West – the matchup will begin either on April 20th or a day later. It will be the 3rd opening-round playoff clash between those organizations in the past 4 campaigns, Los Angeles won each of the 1st 2.
WIN NO. 50. MAVS WIN!!!!@Chime // #MFFL pic.twitter.com/Fdy5M1SWE1
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) April 11, 2024
Derrick Jones Jr., P.J. Washington, and Daniel Gafford each notched 12 points for the Mavs.
Tyler Herro scored 21 points for the Heat, as Kevin Love added 16 points and 11 boards while Caleb Martin notched 14, and the Miami star Jimmy Butler finished with only 12 points.
The Heat could have secured no worse than 7th seed in the East by triumphing in its final 3 matches, all at their venue, beginning with Dallas and then 2 matches against the Raptors on Friday and the end of the weekend. But that will not happen as they lost the 1st one against the Mavs and most likely will end up in the play-in tournament.
Dallas will welcome the Pistons on Friday, while Miami also plays at home against the Raptors on the same day.