In their first game after the All-Star break, Dallas scored another victory in a round-trip dispute in an important fight against the division opponent and leader Spurs. We were met with some strange news before the game, as LaMarcus Aldridge and the Spurs would be splitting each other.
However, DeMar DeRozan led the way to San Antonio efficiently, scoring 30 points from 12 of 19 shots. For the Mavericks, Luka Doncic had a slow kick start, scoring just six points in the interval. Still, he had an impact on the exchanges and got some assists at the start, and he found his way to a double triple, as his score reached his other contributions in the second half. In the end, he overcame the Mavs with 22 points and his 12 scholarships and 12 assists.
Mavs retires at the end of the strong Porzingis straight in the 4th quarter
With Dallas gaining a two-point advantage in the middle of the quarter, 97-95, Kristaps Porzingis made his will felt felt by scoring seven consecutive points as the team placed the staples in San Antonio defensively. Dallas’ advantage increased to eight, and they never looked back.
Porzingis seemed to be active throughout the game. He was affecting defensive kicks and struggling for rebounds. He led the team in points and rebounds with 28 and 14, respectively, with four of those plates arriving on the offensive side.
From rusty to rewarding
Dallas entered the All Star range on a high note – a win against Thunder that ended a series of games 8-2. The hope was that they had started running, completely rested after their free time, but the first period was a little disconnected. They had 11 of their 14 laps in the first half and entered the tunnel for seven. No Maverick player reached the double-digit mark in the first half and his top scorer was WIllie Cauley-Stein with eight. Not exactly how you draw.
The team persevered, however, and found balance in the second half. Doncic and Porzingis came to life in the attack, and the December league’s main defense, which seemed more and more by chance, when the Mavs failed in January, appeared in this game. Dallas kept the buckets coming in consistently and completely choked San Antonio during a crucial six-minute stretch, where Spurs didn’t make a single field goal and scored just two mediocre points in a pair of DeRozan’s free throws. The late execution of the game is an eye candy for those who remember not long ago, when the Mavs were notoriously bad in times of crisis.
Second chance points for me, not for you
Perhaps the biggest difference in this game is not the contributions of a single player, but what the team was able to do on the boards. San Antonio is not a particularly big team, and Dallas took advantage of a 21-rebound advantage. This huge disparity fueled Mavericks’ second chance points in a game where the three point shots they trusted were not falling (the team was 13 out of 40 points deep, 32.5%).
However, Dallas accumulated 21 second chance points against the two from San Antonio. In a game where everything else was so close, Dallas managed to find a thread he could pull to unravel the Spurs.
It is a great victory for Dallas, who are now tied with San Antonio in the division, as measured by previous games, and guarantee a tie in the direct confrontation.