Mavs Officially Oust Rockets; Sixers Win Again to Move to 7th

The Dallas Mavericks officially eliminated the Houston Rockets, winning in overtime at home, 147-136 thereby ensuring their place in the playoffs at #5, the worst as sixth seed.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia 76ers won again, this time without star center Joel Embiid who was reportedly out for injury recovery after scoring 30 points in 23 minutes the other day in leading the Sixers to a blowout of the Memphis Grizzlies. It could be recalled that a then healthy Embiid scored a career high 70 points against the Spurs in January.

Without Embiid, the Sixers though needed a double overtime to beat the San Antonio Spurs, 133-126 on the road. The regulation period ended at 111-all and 121-all in the first overtime before the Sixers outscored the Spurs, 12-5 to get the win. The victory improved the Sixers placing to #7 after wallowing at #8 for some time.

The Sixers needed superlative performance from Tyrese Maxey (52 points) and Kelly Oubre (26) with help from Paul Reed (11) Ricky Council (11) and Buddy Hield (10) to turn back San Antonio.

Rookie of the year top bet Victor Wembanyama took advantage of Embiid's absence and led the Spurs with 33 points and Julian Champaigne and Tre Jones chipping 17 points each.

The Mavs-Rockets also ended at tie in regulation, 129-129 before Dallas ran away in the overtime 18-7 to put away the scrappy Houston.

Virtually two Mavs namely Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic carried the Mavs against the Rockets with Irving top scoring with 48 points and Doncic nearly scoring another triple double with 37 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists. PJ Washinton and Dante Exum supported them with 14 points each.

The hard fighting Rockets were bannered by Dillon Brocks (29), Fred Van Fleet (24) and Josh Green (21) with support from Jock Landale (13), and Jabari Smith (11).

With the Mavs defeat of the Rockets and Golden State Warriors home win over the Utah Jazz 118-110, also today, the race for the 10th place and last play-in berth is officially over for the Rockets who dropped to 38-42 as against the Warriors' now unreachable 43-37.

The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.