San Francisco — On Tuesday night, Andrew Wiggins scored 23 points and the Golden State Warriors beat Dallas 104-100 despite Luka Doncic's 20th triple-double of the season.
Doncic scored 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists to lead the NBA at 33.9 points per game. His 20 triple-doubles trail only Domantas Sabonis (26) and Nikola Jokic (23) Only Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has more 30-point games than Doncic (48).
Warriors coach Steve Kerr praised Wiggins' defense on Doncic, who won Western Conference player of the month for March for the second month in a row on Tuesday. “Our defense got us the win,” Kerr remarked. “Holding them to 100 points is hard. Wiggins was great. He worked hard to make Luka work. Luka was terrific as usual, but that effort set the tone.”
Klay Thompson's late free throws helped the Warriors win after the Mavericks reduced the lead to 102-100 with 15 seconds left. Six Warriors scored in double figures despite Stephen Curry's 5 for 18 shooting. Thompson and Chris Paul scored 14, Curry 13, and Moses Moody 12 as Golden State won its seventh straight.
Dallas guard Kyrie Irving said, “Steph and Klay didn’t play particularly well tonight on the offensive end, but a lot of the other guys got going. I guess that was today's gaming story.” Draymond Green blocked Daniel Gafford with 1:30 left and gave Golden State an eight-point lead with a basket on the next possession. His score was 11.
“That was probably the key defensive play of the game,” Kerr said of Green's late block. “Just massive play.” The Mavericks tied it at 92 with 4:28 left after the Warriors led by 11 with 7:28 left. Dallas (45-30) remained fifth Western Conference. Warriors (41-34) are No. 10 in the West, three games ahead of Rockets (38-37).
Mavericks started with 9-0 run, but Warriors led 28-27 after one quarter. The Warriors led by 13 points as Curry led a 14-0 run in the second quarter, but the Mavericks scored the remaining 13 points to tie the game at 49 at halftime.
Irving: “It felt like kind of a playoff atmosphere tonight as well, how we were going back and forth. Kerr expects Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga (knee) to play Thursday at Houston after missing his fourth straight game. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said rookie center Dereck Lively II could miss two weeks due to right knee pain before the game. Lively was injured Sunday against the Rockets.
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