DALLAS — The game’s outcome wasn’t in question, not after the opening minutes and certainly not after Dallas sprinted to a 36-13 lead through one quarter over downtrodden Portland.
No way the Mavericks could lose on this stress- and resistant-free Friday night in American Airlines Center, right?
Wrong. Dallas handily won the game, 128-78, and earned homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but a technical foul called against Luka Doncic at the end of the first quarter could prove costly for Doncic and the Mavericks.
It was Doncic’s 16th technical foul this season, a threshold that under NBA rules, triggers an automatic one-game suspension. Dallas has only one regular-season game left, Sunday against San Antonio, but that game could have significant playoff-seeding implications.
Friday’s blowout assured the Mavericks (51-30) of finishing no worse than fourth in the Western Conference, but a Dallas win on Sunday and a loss by Golden State (51-29) in either of its final two games would catapult the Mavericks to the third seed.
Third place is Dallas’ preferred seed because it potentially would mean not having to face West leader Phoenix until the conference finals.
Of course, a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff series since the 2010-2011 championship season also is grateful to have its first homecourt advantage of any kind since that postseason.
“That’s big,” coach Jason Kidd said. “That’s something that at the start of the season you want to try to get if you’re a playoff team.
“It’s one step up of showing that we are getting better as a team. The next step is to finish out with another home win.”
Doncic earlier this season had one technical foul rescinded this season, but if this one stands it would be the epitome of needless: Doncic had just launched a 48-foot heave just before the first-quarter buzzer, and he felt that he had been undercut on the play.
As most of the players headed to their respective benches, Doncic walked across the court to lead referee Tony Brothers.
Doncic said to Mavericks vice president of communications Scott Tomlin after the technical: “I asked him, ‘How is that not a foul? How is that not a foul?’ He teed me up. That’s unfair. That’s unfair.”
Kidd said he didn’t ask Brothers for an explanation, but was told second-hand: “Tony was saying that he had to stop the complaining,” Kidd said. “That’s the interpretation of a ref, trying to keep the game under control.
“I get it. It is what it is. It’s over with. We’ll get ready to play San Antonio. If he [Doncic] can play, he plays if he can’t, he moves on to the playoffs.
“It’s not a big deal.”
