San Antonio managed to give its superstar center the requisite playing time and keep all of its rotation players under 30 minutes in a 139-120 beating of Dallas tonight. The two superstars – Victor Wembanyama (24 points) for San Antonio (62-19) and Cooper Flagg (25 points) for Dallas (25-56) – went supernova in a high-scoring first half. Despite the Spurs shooting well from the field and perfectly from the line (12-12), Flagg and the Mavericks capitalized on several lulls late in the first half to pull
even with the Spurs briefly and stay at their heels throughout much of the third period before fading away. With Stephon Castle nursing a sore foot, All-Rookie Team candidate Dylan Harper (13 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds) capably started in his place.
San Antonio’s Wembanyama (40 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks) and an always ready De’Aaron Fox (18 points and 10 assists) helped the hosts pull away from Dallas in the second half. San Antonio also got balanced scoring throughout the line-up – with noteworthy performances from Julian Champagnie (14 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks) from deep and Carter Bryant (12 points and 5 rebounds) as a playoff-ready contributor off the bench. Keldon Johnson (17 points and 5 rebounds) provided his usual brutish consistency. San Antonio also managed to hit the mythical 50 (FG)-40 (3PT)-90 (FT) mark with 54% from the field, 41% behind the line, and 96% from the stripe.
While Flagg (33 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists) did his stellar all-around thing in defeat, Max Christie (16 points and 2 rebounds) and unheralded AJ Johnson (13 points) supplied the secondary scoring through the first several periods to keep Dallas reasonably competitive. Khris Middleton (14 points and 3 rebounds) had a solid performance, as well.
The teams came out firing away, with San Antonio finding its shooting touch more often from the tip. Flagg connected on his first two attempts, while Wembanyama – showing residual damage from his recent wear – put up a flashy 11 points – including a whirling dervish of a floater over Marvin Bagley that required lots of core strength to pull off. Bryant shined in transition, bullying his way through two Mavericks and getting himself an and-1. Wembanyama figured prominently in a closing 14-2 run and San Antonio left the first up 37-26.
Flagg continued to accumulate offensive steam to start the second period. The Spurs still remained comfortably ahead with Wembanyama matching the Maverick’s production. Flagg was the recipient of an and-1 and a Flagrant 1 added on a Luke Kornet closeout. A late Dallas run put them in the lead momentarily, but Wembanyama’s closing half-dozen put San Antonio back up 68-65 going to the half.
Dallas matched the Spurs over a number of possessions to start the third period. San Antonio’s Harper and Johnson carried the offense over the middle minutes of the frame, while Flagg gave way to all of the non-injured Mavericks. A personal 7-point spurt by De’Aaron Fox pushed the Spurs’ lead back up to 14. After a spinning lay-up by Wembanyama made it 101-87, Jacob Tobey exclaimed, “Victor makes no sense!” Fox’s individual awesomeness provided San Antonio the necessary cushion heading into the fourth.
Observations
- This is the first Spurs game (since the ABA days) where my dad has not been watching his beloved team – in some form alongside family or a text or phone call away from a family member – as he lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on Monday. His primary motivation in the last months through rounds of chemo and recovery was to see his first Wembanyama era playoffs.
- For those of us that watched the opening night 125-92 win against Dallas, this is as good a capstone as any for Wembanyama’s campaign of destruction on the league.
- It’s really fun to see the younger players ricochet off of Bismack Biyombo after the introductions.
- Marvin BADley (shooting), amirite?
- Jordan McLaughlin celebrated his 30th birthday with a late three that – due to the timing of the attempt – caused Coach Mitch Johnson to apologize to the Dallas coaching staff.
- Sequence of the Game #1: San Antonio had a great after time-out moment early in the second quarter, where Fox floated a pass to Devin Vassell in the right corner, and the guarded lobbed a feather to a diving Kornet for a dunk.
- Sequence of the Game #2: After the Spurs forced multiple misses on one possession, Harper backed in John Poulakidas deep in the paint and notched an and-1 halfway through the third quarter.
- Sequence of the Game #3: The Bryant threes that all swished like a former Spur used to do (Danny Green).
- Wembanyama ‘Thanos’ Sequence of the Game: Figuring he would do it himself late in the opening stanza, he took a rebound all the way downcourt for a soaring eagle slam from 10+ feet out, and then followed it with a three from the pink part of the Fiesta logo.
- Fox needs to get 2 or 3 lay-ups deep in the paint during the playoffs to keep the defenses honest and sufficiently off of San Antonio’s perimeter shooters.
- One of the early season criticisms of Harper was his outside shooting, so it must have been a very pleasant surprise for so many of us to see this:
Game Rundown
Wembanyama ’excused me’ his way through two defenders for an opening slam, and Champagnie took Wembanyama’s ensuing miss and threw down a Sean Elliott-like baseline dunk. Wembanyama’s stepback three – after some jarringly bad Bagley misses – made it 11-2. Flagg put up five points, and Middleton’s stepback brought the Mavericks within four. Despite drawing his second foul, Harper stayed in the game without picking up a third one. Bryant was brought in to quell Flagg’s production, but the Rookie of the Year candidate hit a jumper over the rookie’s hands seconds later. Johnson put up a quick handful of points to keep San Antonio ahead. Bryant’s catch-and-shoot three made it 32-23, and Wembanyama scored the last five of the quarter to put the Spurs up 11.
Flagg started the second with another five quick points. Wembanyama had the first ‘almost-falling-whoopsie-then-stretching-into-a-dunk ‘move I’ve ever seen. Flagg lofted a floater over Wembanyama to shave Dallas’ deficit to six. Despite San Antonio continuing to put up points at a brisk pace, Flagg’s and-1 kept it a 3-possession game. Harper had a coast-to-coast lay-up that seemed never in doubt despite Ryan Nembhard staying right in front of him. Champagnie swished a wing three and then punched Dwight Powell’s shot attempt high into the sky. Champagnie blocked Moussa Cisse’s dunk attempt on the next possession. Bryant’s second triple from the exact same spot as the first put San Antonio up nine. Threes in succession from Flagg, Max Christie, and Middleton gifted the Mavericks their first lead. Wembanyama scored the last six of the half for the Spurs and they went to the break with a slim three point advantage.
Nembhard tied things immediately out of the break with a corner three. The teams traded baskets over the next several minutes with a handful of ties that occurred on jumpers from Christie and Middleton. Flagg’s bruising lay-up put the Mavericks back up. Harper’s traditional and-1 and Johnson’s three nudged San Antonio back ahead. Fox seemed to have gotten the message that it was time to put his stamp on tonight’s game and hit a couple of jumpers in the lane and followed it with a shotclock beating three. Bryant exacted a bit of revenge on Flagg by blocking his fadeaway attempt in the final minute of the quarter. Fox’s final attempt fell just errant, but his 14 points in the stanza helped make it 108-93 San Antonio going to the fourth.
For the Mavericks fan’s perspective, please visit Mavs Moneyball.
San Antonio finishes its best regular season in a decade with one more battle with Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets Sunday night at 7:30 PM CDT on ESPN.
