Victories do not need to be beautiful over the long term, because Dallas Mavericks (40-29) are fighting to improve their playoff position. They just need to be winners.
The Mavericks avoided a massive disappointment Tuesday in scratching beyond the San Antonio Spurs (15-54) 113-107 at Frost Bank Center. With the win, Dallas is just a few percentage points out of sixth place in the Western Conference playoff race. On an off night for Luka Dončić, Dallas defended just well enough and made a few key plays on offense when things got dicey down the stretch.
Kyrie Irving led the Mavs with 28 points and seven rebounds in the victory, while Dončić shot a horrible 6 of 27 from the field and 2 of 11 from 3-point range, but finished with a hard-fought triple-double. Point guard Tre Jones led the Spurs with 22 points and nine assists on 8 of 11 from the field and 4 of 5 from 3-point land.
It’s a good feeling to be able to exhale and toss this one in the trash after a win that completes San Antonio’s four-game sweep for the season. Honestly, as frustrating as the win against the Spurs was at times, it’s an encouraging sign that Dallas was able to pull out a win when Luka’s shot wasn’t falling.
10: Consecutive missed goals for Luka Dončić
Dončić made his first two field goal attempts of the game, a step-back jumper and a step-back 3-pointer on consecutive possessions in the first two minutes of the game, before stringing together his next 10 in a row over the first and second quarters. . His cold jumper was one of the reasons the Spurs were able to stay in the game throughout the first half.
But Doncic can affect the game in several ways. Around his fourth consecutive miss, he recognized that the jumper wasn’t falling at the moment and went into distribution mode. he notched 11 assists in the first half, en route to a game-high 16 dimes in the victory. He finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds as well.
Dončić came into the game shooting just 28-68 (41.1%) from the field in his last three games, which isn’t a terrible slump or anything — it’s just not the efficiency Mavs fans have become accustomed to from their resident supernova. He ended his drought on the court Tuesday with a mid-range fadeaway jumper with 1:45 left before halftime that put Dallas up 65-52.
The Mavs took a 65-56 lead into the break. At that point, the Mavs as a team were shooting 25 of 46 (54.3%) from the field, while Dončić was shooting just 3 of 13. It’s the kind of strange juxtaposition that makes one wonder, what does that mean again?
1: Field goal in the first half for Victor Wembanyama
Dallas threw several looks in the direction of Victor Wembanyama, who entered the game averaging 20.8 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game, and that seemed to frustrate the 7’4″ rookie .
Wemby made just 1 of 6 shots from the field in the first half, cruising to a line of 12 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots. He shot just 3 of 13 from the floor in the loss and seemed hesitant to make shots down the stretch despite being mostly guarded by Maxi Kleber.
11-0: Spurs series in the fourth quarter
It was the quintessential disappointment game following Sunday’s thrilling last-second win over the West-leading Denver Nuggets, but the Mavericks have no excuse for allowing the result against the Spurs to still be questioned in the final stretch.
The Spurs went on an 11-0 run in four minutes early in the fourth to take a 95-93 lead on Malakai’s Tre Jones-assisted Branham 3-ball with 6:57 to play. Tre Jones put the Spurs back in front, 101-100, on a reverse shot with just 4:10 left, putting the Mavs’ NBA clutch record in serious jeopardy.
20-8: Dallas’ record in decisive games this season
But Dante Exum made two big 3-pointers down the stretch, including one from the right wing that all but sealed the deal with 39 seconds left, giving the Mavs a 109-103 lead. Exum finished with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-4 on 3-point attempts, coming off the bench in the win.
The Mavs’ 20-8 record in deciding games this year is a game better than the the Los Angeles Lakerswho came into Tuesday with a 19-9 record in deciding games.
