By ASSOCIATED PRESS DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic scored 45 points in his first game in Dallas since being traded to the Los Angeles, helping the Lakers wrap up a playoff spot with a 112-97 victory over the Mavericks on Wednesday night, April 9. Doncic’s emotional return came two months after a seismic trade out of nowhere that sent the five-time All-Star to Los Angeles. The 26-year-old star from Slovenia spent his first 5 1/2 seasons with the Mavericks, and still had two seasons left on his contract. The 45 points matched Doncic’s season high — he did that once for Dallas and one other time for the Lakers. He also had eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. LeBron James had 13 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, when the Lakers fell behind before a strong finish. Anthony Davis, who went from the Lakers to Dallas in the Doncic heal, had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Naji Marshall led the Mavs with 23 points and eight assists. The Lakers remained third in the Western Conference standings after their third game in four days. They came to Dallas after splitting a pair of games at Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City. Dallas (38-42) is guaranteed a losing record a year after making the NBA Finals. The Mavs are still in position to finish 10th and make the play-in tournament. James’s three-point play with 8:10 left broke an 87-all tie and put the Lakers ahead to stay, and he added a layup 34 seconds later. That came after Dallas’ 15-2 run. James’ 1,561st career regular-season game moved him past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for sole possession of second place on the NBA list. Only Robert Parrish with 1,611 has more than the 40-year-old James. It was his 418th game in seven seasons with the Lakers, after 849 games with Cleveland and 294 with Miami. Meanwhile, Harrison Barnes made a 3-pointer at the buzzer after committing a foul moments earlier that could have cost his team, and the San Antonio Spurs stunned the Golden State Warriors, 114-111. Draymond Green made two free throws with 3.1 seconds left to make it 111-all after Barnes fouled him, then the veteran guard let it fly over Jimmy Butler and was immediately swarmed by his teammates when the horn sounded. Keldon Johnson made a go-ahead layup with 11 seconds left after tying the game with 32 seconds remaining and finished with 21 points. Butler scored 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and converted 16 of 17 free throws and Stephen Curry scored 30 with five 3-pointers and grabbed eight rebounds, but this loss could jeopardize Golden State securing a top-six playoff seed and avoiding the play-in tournament. In Salt Lake City, Kyle Filipowski scored 30 points including a dunk that sent the game into overtime and grabbed 18 rebounds as the Utah Jazz snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 133-126 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Brice Sensabaugh added 22 points and Keyonte George had 18, including eight in overtime, for the Jazz. Shaedon Sharpe had 37 to lead Portland, but missed three critical free throws in the final minute of regulation. In Chicago, Josh Giddey dominated with 28 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists and the Bulls beat the Miami Heat, 119-111, in a game with heavy seeding implications. Giddey extended a career high with his seventh triple-double as the ninth-place Bulls (37-43) moved a game ahead of Miami in the Eastern Conference. They also pulled within a half-game of Atlanta for the eighth seed. The ninth-place team gets a home game against the 10th seed in the play-in tournament. The winner then visits the loser of the game between the seventh and eighth seeds. Earlier, Jalen Williams scored 33 points, Chet Holmgren added 22 and the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder beat Phoenix, 125-112, eliminating the Suns from the playoff race. Phoenix will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2020 despite having a roster that included the high-priced All-Star trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.