The San Antonio Spurs concluded their homestand in thrilling fashion on Wednesday night, holding off a furious second half rally by the Dallas Mavericks to earn the 112-111 victory at the Frost Bank Center behind a historic and career night from Victor Wembanyama.
The victory is the sixth straight for San Antonio, who defeated Dallas for the second time this season.
Wembanyama was fired up from pre-game introductions, pumping his team up as he went through the high-five line. From the opening tip,
he was aggressive inside the paint and getting to the free throw line. He scored eight of the Spurs’ first 10 points and would finish the first quarter with 15 points.
The second quarter saw both teams go on a pair of runs. With the Spurs leading 48-39, Mavericks coach Dusty May called timeout and following that, Dallas went on a 7-0 run to cut San Antonio’s nine point lead down to two points. Meanwhile, later in the period, the Spurs would close the second quarter on 19-3 run to take the 68-51 advantage into the second half.
Wembanyama finished the first half with 29 points, 15 rebounds, and five blocks. The one area where Wemby struggled? His three-point shooting, just going 1-for-8 on the night.
“I can still do more,” Wembanyama said after the game. “I mean, my shots weren’t falling tonight and that forces me into a style of play that is exhausting. I can do it. The proof is here. I can do it, but I can be much better if my shots fell.”
Both teams had a slow start to the second half, but it was Dallas that looked like a team that got a grilling at the break. The Mavericks were much more aggressive to begin the third quarter, led by Kyrie Irving and Naji Marshall. At one point, Julian Champagnie left Marshall open for a corner three. That left Spurs coach Mitch Johnson furious as he called timeout and let his team know just how frustrated he was with their effort.
The Spurs responded out of the timeout by building the lead back to 13 points, but Dallas would win the third quarter 27-22 and that set up a thrilling finish in the final 12 minutes. The Mavericks opened the fourth quarter by outscoring San Antonio 12-4, all but erasing their 19-point deficit. The final 8:45 saw both teams go back and forth exchanging the lead, but this Wembanyama would not allow the Spurs to lose on this night.
San Antonio got their star the ball at every chance down the court over the final three minutes. He had two putbacks in the final 2:39, but went just 1-for-4 from the free throw line, causing anxiety for many inside the arena. With the Spurs clinging to the 112-111 lead, Dallas had one final chance. Irving missed a contested 15-foot, turnaround jumper with three seconds remaining thanks to some great defense from De’Aaron Fox and the Spurs held on.
Wemby finished with career highs of 52 points and 24 rebounds along with eight blocks.
“I think he’s settled into the season like we all have,” Coach Johnson said of his star player after the game. “We’re almost 10 games in. It takes a minute to get in that flow, we had to just got to a good spot in terms of team [needing] to get where their feet were. Team has potential. We’re starting to play the brand of basketball we should.”
Dallas was led by Irving’s 29 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Marshall added 22, while PJ Washington chipped in 21 and Cooper Flagg added 19 points for the Mavericks, who fell to 4-4 on the season.
Dylan Harper, who finished with 21 points, said postgame that he looked up to Irving growing up and to play against him is incredible, but beating him meant more.
“It was good to get the win over him today for sure,” he said after the game.
Game Notes
- In addition to Wemby’s career highs, the victory for the Spurs was also the 100th in Coach Mitch Johnson’s career. According to Spurs socials, Wemby presented Johnson with the game ball in the locker room after the game.
- Devin Vassell and Champagnie went a combined 0-for-14 on the night. Coach Johnson said after the game he doesn’t believe we’ll see a game where that happens again this season.
- San Antonio’s bench struggled on the night, scoring just 10 points compared to 38 points from Dallas’ second unit.
- The Spurs were ice cold (no pun intended on throwback night) from beyond the arc, shooting just 13 percent and going 5-for-36. That will and should change as the season goes on.
