Mavericks Clinch No. 5 Seeding

Having locked up the league’s best home record, the Dallas Mavericks added another big victory in their home finale Tuesday night.

Rookie Marquis Daniels continued his recent roll with 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, helping the Mavericks beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 110-103, to secure the No. 5 seeding in a Western Conference race that’s still jumbled at the top.

The 36th home victory set a franchise record.

But because Dallas is only 15-25 on the road, the Mavericks won’t have home-court advantage in any round of the playoffs. The last time the league’s best home team opened the postseason on the road was in 1991 (Utah).

“We’ve had a great season at home, and we didn’t want to mess it up,” Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki said. “We wanted to get the fifth seed, and we went for it. We had a great effort early on.”

The Mavericks were up by 13 after one quarter and led by at least nine until the final minute.

Memphis, which lost its third consecutive game and fifth in its last six, will have the No. 6 seeding.

That’s not too disappointing to a club that’s already won a franchise-best 50 games and made the playoffs for the first time. Coach Hubie Brown said the most important thing was getting Pau Gasol and Bonzi Wells back from injuries that kept them out of the last four games. Wells scored 27, and Gasol had 10 points and seven rebounds.

“Our main goal as a coaching staff was to make sure they got back for these two games to get their legs back, and even more importantly, their timing,” Brown said.

Considering how unsettled the playoff race was, fans who came were expecting an intense game. They were disappointed from the start.

At 6:36 of the first quarter, Nowitzki picked up his third foul, only 31 seconds after getting his second. That sent Memphis’ James Posey to the line -- and he missed both shots.

Posey missed a dunk attempt the next time down the court, part of a six-for-20 first quarter for the Grizzlies.

The Mavericks got off to a strong start because they were making outside shots. Only one of their 13 first-quarter baskets came in the paint. They stretched the lead to 19 in the second and went up by 22 late in the third quarter on a tough jumper by Nowitzki and a powerful dunk by Daniels.

An undrafted rookie, Daniels has worked his way into the starting lineup and become a key contributor on the league’s highest-scoring team. This was his third 20-point game in a row and fifth in 10 games.

Toronto 87, Detroit 78 -- Donyell Marshall had 27 points and 16 rebounds at Toronto, and the Raptors ended the Pistons’ eight-game winning streak.

Detroit’s Ben Wallace became the first player in league history to have four consecutive seasons of at least 1,000 rebounds, 100 steals and 100 blocked shots. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Lacey all did it three times.