Mavericks drop into three-way tie

OAKLAND -- The Golden State Warriors ruined Dallas’ season a year ago by knocking the Mavericks out of the playoffs in a shocking first-round upset. This year, the Warriors could keep the Mavericks out of the postseason all together.

Monta Ellis scored 30 points and Kelenna Azubuike made two clutch shots down the stretch to help the Warriors beat the Mavericks, 114-104, Sunday night to create a three-way tie with Dallas and Denver for seventh place in the Western Conference.

With nine games remaining, Dallas, Golden State and Denver are all even at 45-28. If the season ended today, the Warriors would miss the playoffs because they have lost two of three to both the Nuggets and Mavericks. But if Golden State manages to beat Denver and Dallas in their final meetings, the Mavericks would be the odd team out in a three-way tie.

“I’m not excited for us,” Coach Avery Johnson said of the Mavericks, who fell to 1-2 since Dirk Nowitzki was injured. “We’d like to be third or fourth. We don’t want to be part of this three team, seventh seed or eighth seed or whatever.”

The Mavericks face the Warriors again on Wednesday at Dallas, part of a four-game trip for the Warriors that begins Tuesday at San Antonio.

“If we’re going to be a playoff team then we need to treat these next nine games like the playoffs,” Warriors point guard Baron Davis said.

Josh Howard had 36 points for Dallas. Jason Kidd added 13 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds but Dallas fell to 0-10 against teams with winning records since acquiring him.