Dallas Mavericks rally for victory against Thunder

DALLAS (AP) – Chandler Parsons scored 31 points, Dirk Nowitzki added 22 with some big 3-pointers and the Dallas Mavericks rallied from 15 down in the third quarter for a 119-115 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night.

Russell Westbrook just missed his seventh triple-double in 10 games, finishing with 24 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds. But he picked up his fifth and sixth fouls 0.6 seconds apart trying to bring the Thunder back in the final minute.

It was a playoff-like finish to a game that had all the elements of a tense postseason matchup through the first three quarters. There were five technical fouls and matching flagrant fouls called on Tyson Chandler and Westbrook.

The Mavericks moved into fifth place in the Western Conference and put a little more distance between themselves and the Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans, who are a half-game apart in the race for the final playoff spot.