The Dallas Mavericks lost to the San Antonio Spurs again, 138-125 Saturday afternoon in San Antonio. This was the Mavericks second straight loss to the Spurs, and they are now 0-3 on the season against their in-division rival. All three games have been blowout, double-digit losses.
This game was eerily similar to Thursday’s game, with it starting out fun enough in the first half with high-tempo, up-and-down play, before the Spurs eventually steamrolled with their superior talent advantage.
Spurs guard
Stephon Castle had a career night with a 40-point triple-double: 40 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists. Brandon Williams led the Mavericks in scoring with 18 points off the bench.
Dallas has now lost seven in a row and are firmly outside of even sniffing the play-in tournament. Let’s get to the numbers.
25: Spurs made field goals in the restricted area
Dallas actually did a lot of things well in this game, believe it or not. They were significantly better in turnovers, even on the offensive glass, and even shot a better percentage from three while making one more three than the Spurs did. If the Mavericks are even or win two of those three categories they usually stand a good chance of winning. Instead they were down by 28 points in the third quarter. Why? The Spurs had a layup line to the rim all day.
San Antonio went 25-of-36 in the restricted area, and both the makes and attempts are startling. The Spurs scored a preposterous 74 points in the paint. Dallas had absolutely nothing for San Antonio at the rim, and the Mavericks elected to play small for most of the game when Daniel Gafford wasn’t in. The Spurs took full advantage and took the ball to the basket hard the entire game.
12: Cooper Flagg shot attempts
Dallas trailed for the majority of this game, and mostly by double-digits, so the minutes and shot distribution are bound to look a little wonky. Even with that qualifier, it was weird that Cooper Flagg only had 12 attempts in his 26 minutes.
He appeared to bang up his shoulder early in the game, and perhaps that led to him being a bit out of it. However for a lot of his minutes he was parked in the corner and off ball without much movement or actions to try to get him the ball. Dallas had seven total players attempt 10 or more shots, and two players shot more than Flagg and both were bench guys (Klay Thompson and the newly acquired Marvin Bagley)
Regardless of the Spurs defense, Flagg’s healthy, or the game script, Flagg just has to be more involved in these games, especially if Dallas is already not predisposed to winning at the moment.
4: Marvin Bagley blocked shots
It was a fairly impressive debut for Bagley, by far the player with the most juice acquired in the Anthony Davis trade. AJ Johnson is two years away from being two years away, and Khris Middleton is just veteran flotsam at this point. Bagley has been a disappointment since being selected second overall in 2018, but he’s somewhat stabilized his career as a bouncy backup big that just sorta hangs around the rim and tries to do stuff. It’s a far cry from the star potential he showed at Duke, but at least it’s something.
He showed that newfound stabilization with Dallas right away in his first game. He finishes with a double-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks. The four blocks were the only four blocks the Mavericks had as a team. He did only shoot 6-of-14 from the field, and most of those misses were right at the basket, but it was still a fun debut from a still young and talented player.
