Weekend scoring sprees
Several late‑season NBA games were unusually high scoring — Dallas put up 149 against Chicago, the Lakers beat Utah 131–107, and Houston routed Memphis 132–101, with other surprises like Charlotte 110–96 over the Knicks (x.com). Among individual standouts, Baylor Scheierman had a career‑high 30 points with 7 rebounds and 7 assists, and Luka Garza posted 27 points and 12 rebounds in weekend action (x.com) (x.com).
The National Basketball Association closed its regular season on April 12 with a burst of offense, including Dallas scoring 149 points and three other teams topping 130. (nba.com) Dallas beat Chicago 149-128 on Sunday, one of the weekend’s highest totals, while Los Angeles beat Utah 131-107 and Houston beat Memphis 132-101. Charlotte also beat New York 110-96 to lock up the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) (nba.com 3) (nba.com 4) The Lakers’ win over the Jazz secured the Western Conference’s No. 4 seed at 53-29, and Houston finished 52-30 before opening the playoffs against Los Angeles on April 18. Charlotte’s win gave it a home game against Miami in the East play-in on April 14. (nba.com) (espn.com) (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) The scoring came on the last day of an 82-game schedule, when playoff seeds were still moving and several teams were also resting starters before the postseason. Houston beat Memphis with its stars sitting out, and Boston’s reserves handled Orlando in another game that swung the bracket. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) (nba.com 3) Boston’s 113-108 win over Orlando produced two of the weekend’s biggest individual lines. Baylor Scheierman scored a career-high 30 points with seven rebounds and seven assists, and Luka Garza added a career-high 27 points with 12 rebounds. (nba.com) (nba.com) That result dropped Orlando from a tie for sixth in the East to eighth, sending the Magic into a road play-in game at Philadelphia on April 15 instead of a home game. Boston had already secured the No. 2 seed, but its short-handed lineup still changed the bracket. (nba.com) (nba.com) The weekend totals did not all come from the same script. Dallas and Los Angeles got there with established stars in tune-up games, while Houston and Boston got big numbers from role players and reserves in expanded minutes. (nba.com) (nba.com) (nba.com) (nba.com) By Tuesday, April 14, the regular season’s scoring binge had given way to the play-in tournament, with Charlotte hosting Miami and Portland visiting Phoenix. The outlier box scores now sit next to the matchups that actually count. (nba.com)
