The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Dallas Mavericks 125-92 Wednesday night in Dallas.
There was bound to be a presence announced in the season opener between the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs.
Unfortunately for the home team, it wasn’t Cooper Flagg’s night to hold the bullhorn. Instead, it was Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama who, after eight months away from basketball with blood clots, staked his claim for MVP favorite.
Wemby put up 40 points, 15 rebounds, and three blocks, all while sitting for much of the fourth quarter. Anthony Davis led the Mavs in scoring with 22 points along with 13 boards.
11: Field goal attempts in the 3rd quarter
For Mavs fans who filled the AAC for the season debut, the man to watch was first overall pick Cooper Flagg. Duh. MFFLs in attendance were ready to cheer for the rookie’s first NBA points, but he wasn’t the first rookie in this game to score. He wasn’t even the first DALLAS rookie to score. Both Ryan Nembhard and Spurs rookie Dylan Harper were on the board before Flagg. Cooper attempted just two shots in the entire first half and missed both.
After what could probably be called the world’s brightest green light speech over halftime, Flagg came out and took Dallas’ first four shots of the half, hitting his first for his inaugural NBA points.
Neither Flagg nor any other meaningful player for Dallas played much in the fourth, so hopefully his productive third was enough to shake the debut jitters and have something he can build on, looking forward to the team’s game on Friday against the Wizards.
12: Turnovers through three quarters
The waiting game has begun for Dallas as they sit and wait for Kyrie Irving to return from a torn ACL. Tonight, Dallas’ hole at the point guard position exited the hypothetical and became glaringly problematic.
The “Flagg as main ball handler” bore no fruit early as the Spurs rushed him down as soon as he crossed half court. AD was less of an “offensive hub” and more of a rebound generator on his 7-for-22 night shooting. And the team’s stopgap at PG, D’Angelo Russell, didn’t even start the game.
The lack of an initiator led Dallas to struggle on offense, with little motion more exotic than running a dribble handoff to Davis and waiting. The 12 turnovers they had after three quarters were just barely outpaced by their 14 assists.
Dallas is clearly going to have an issue at guard, and as much as Nembhard has been a nice surprise as an undrafted rookie, there don’t appear to be any easy fixes for the near-term.
0: Solutions for Victor Wembanyama
It’s no secret that Dallas is thin at the front court, but with a roster stuffed with forwards and bigs, they were supposed to be able to bully anybody they wanted. But against Wembanyama, it was Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively forking over their lunch money.
Wemby had both Dallas bigs in foul trouble early; Davis had four and Lively had three by halftime. Two more quick whistles against Lively in the third meant he spent most of the rest of the game on the bench.
On the one hand, it’s Victor Wembanyama, probably the most singularly skilled and genetically gifted people in the world, let alone on an NBA team. On the other, having what was supposed to be a team strength for Dallas bent over San Antonio’s knee and spanked doesn’t feel good, no matter how many qualifiers you put on it.
