The Dallas Mavericks played their first of 16 back-to-backs Saturday night, losing to the Spurs, 122-106. With Cooper Flagg sidelined due to a shoulder injury and Kyrie Irving getting some load management rest, there was plenty of opportunity for others to shine against the Western Conference reigning champions.
5-for-5: Dusty May on Coach’s Challenges
Dusty May has a keen knack for spotting referee errors. A Coach’s Challenge early in the second quarter overturned a foul call on Daniel Gafford. That prevented Gafford from picking up his
third foul, allowed the Mavericks to maintain possession and kept May flawless on Coach’s Challenges for the season. He did it again in the third quarter on an out-of-bounds call to once again get possession back to the Mavs. He has now challenged five times this season and won all five of them. It may seem a bit trivial, and he surely won’t maintain 100% success all season, but this should not be overlooked. Possessions add up over the season and not burning timeouts are the little things that matter in the game of inches.
25-10: Spurs’ second-chance points advantage
Dallas played hard all night, but that effort still saw them come up short on the boards. The Spurs did well to pursue the ball off the glass, giving themselves second chance points aplenty. On a few occasions, the Mavs’ secured the rebound only to turn it over, netting the same result as giving up an offensive board in the first place. Daniel Gafford’s foul trouble didn’t help the cause, but the Mavs are going to need to collectively swarm the boards to remedy the early-season trend of getting out-rebounded. Putting it mildly, Dallas got smoked in this department by a factor of two-and-a-half times.
9-of-15: Sergio De Larrea FG shooting
For a guy who looked largely out of sorts during his first two NBA games, to look like a seasoned NBA player against one of the best teams in the league, is quite impressive. De Larrea was unconscious on the offensive end. A huge worry coming into the game was the absence of Irving and who would fill his role. Hall of Famers are not easily replaceable on a given night, but De Larrea did his best to at least provide scoring punch with a bit of offensive orchestration peppered in. If this is De Larrea’s arrival, we’re in for a treat the rest of the way. He led all Mavericks in scoring with 21 points.
14: Number of Dallas Stocks
The Mavericks’ defensive effort has added up to a high stocks (steals + blocks) total over the past two games. Saturday night saw another admirable number posted. In and of itself, it’s nice to see, however the real story is more often what that defensive effort amounts to. In this case, Dallas dominated on fast break points, 28 to 15. Having gotten badly beaten on second chance points, Dallas needed to make up for that deficit somewhere and the defensive combination of steals and blocks was where they did it.
I invite you to follow me @_80MPH on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks.
