San Antonio (1-2) capitalized on its hustle tonight by gathering 13 offensive rebounds, turning Dallas over (12 steals), and inreasing its intensity over the final two periods to generate enough separation and secure its first victory of the season 122-106. A Dallas lineup missing stars Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving found ample contributions from a mix of old and new contributors to keep the game interesting for three periods before the Spurs’ talent and experience took over.
Stephon Castle (19 points,
8 assists, and 3 steals) steadied the offense throughout an uneven first half, and his defense is what helped secure a comfortable lead in the third period and beyond. Devin Vassell (11 points and 6 rebounds) contributed from the get-go, which allowed Wembanyama (23 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks), Fox (17 points and 7 assists), and Dylan Harper (22 points and 5 rebounds) to settle themselves before suffering too big of a deficit. San Antonio received solid enough and timely bench production from Keldon Johnson (7 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists) and Julian Champagnie (12 points and 5 rebounds).
Dallas – recalling shades of its deep 2024 playoff run – relied on savvy support from old hands Daniel Gafford (12 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals) and PJ Washington (10 points and 4 rebounds) to build confidence of an upset well into the second half. Veteran Naji Marshall (10 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists) was crucial during the Mavericks’ first half burst. Sergio de Larrea (21 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists) performed like prime Marco Belinelli and was often the best player on a floor full of more highly touted professionals, while Marcus Sasser (12 points and 5 assists) shot well from the field.
The non-Wembanyama starters contributed 13 of the Spurs’ first 14 points to stake them to a six-point lead. Dallas found a good amount of its output in the lane and benefitted from San Antonio’s hacking for several 3-point plays. Castle and Vassell put up 70+% of the Spurs’ output late in the stanza. San Antonio, however, shed so many points at a frightening rate at the other end, as nearly all of the Mavericks’ field goals came from inside the 3-point line. The Spurs were fortunate to be up 32-31 after 12 minutes.
Behind the exploits of de Larrea (4 baskets and 1 assists) over 5+ minutes of the second, Dallas repeatedly powered through the disinterested Spurs defense to go ahead by six. Wembanyama crafted a 90+ second highlight sequence of his own to whittle away the Mavericks’ advantage. Wembanyama’s brilliance coincided with a noticeable uptick in defensive intensity and crashing of the offensive boards to get San Antonio back in the dirver’s seat. Harper’s and-1 made it an 8-point Spurs lead going to the half.
San Antonio turned an engaged defense into a variety of transition opportunities to get its lead out past double digits to start the third. After the Mavericks’ reserve hit a transition three, the Dallas announcers decreed him ‘de la-trea.’ A closing push spearheaded by de Larrea and Marcus Sasser nearly ceded the hard-earned lead back to the Mavericks. Castle and Wembanyama hit enough shots to eke the Spurs back out ahead 92-89.
Observations
- Sequence of the Game #4: EVERYTHING TARRIS REED, JR. DID IN FIVE MINUTES OF PLAYING TIME!
- Tarris Reed, Jr. (6’11” 265 lb) playing time: He snagged his first rebound 70 seconds in, and his first basket occurred 15 seconds later! His second rebound extended a Spurs possession, which ended with a Champagnie three! (First offensive foul occurred 3 1/2 minutes in.)
- My favorite all-time #10 Spurs currently: #1 DeMar DeRozan, #2 Speedy Claxton, #3 Ron Brewer, #4 Louie Dampier, #5 Tarris Reed, Jr.
- The crunchtime five during the fourth quarter push: Wembanyama, Fox, Harper, Champagnie, Johnson.
- Highway 41: Late in the fourth, Fox took a feed Wembanyama, curled into the paint, and executed a lightning-fast lob to his center for an and-1.
- It was sobering to read that Risacher hadonly a two year window to make an impact for Atlanta and was jettisoned to Dallas.
- The introduction of the Dallas roster was reminiscent of the Charles Barkley ‘who he play for’ bits on Inside the NBA.
- The ambience inside American Airlines Center – despite my TV’s maximum volume – was funereal.
- The preferred meal of Final Scores so far: mediterranean food!
- Sequence of the Game #1: Partway in the first quarter, an energized Castle patiently bided his time deep in the Dallas paint on a lay-up, then in doing a Ginobili impression – swatted the ball out of a Mavs’ hands, and was gifted a Kornet outlet for a runaway dunk.
- Sequence of the Game #2: Late in the first half, and with Dallas thratening to blow the game wide open, Wembanyama slammed down a lob, turned away a de Larrea floater shortly after, spoonfed Keldon Johnson an outlet pass with purpose for an acrobatic finish, and knocked down a three in 100 seconds of game action.
- Seequence of the Game #3: Fox separated a Mavs big from a defensive rebound in the waning seconds of the half, and whipped a lefty pass through traffic to Harper for an and-1 to give the Spurs their biggest lead (8) to that point.
Game Rundown
The teams shot under 40% coming out of the gate. Fox followed a made three with a hideous airball. Castle battled a trio of Mavericks impressively to extend an early San Antonio possession. Wembanyama was involved in two careless possessions which resulted in turnovers. Vassell knocked down two straight shots and Castle followed with two more buckets of his own to push the Spurs ahead. A successive line of Mavs invaded the paint for their own scores. The Spurs whipped the ball around and through the Mavs’ zone to success for Castle (9) and Vassell (8). Bryant tipped in a carom in his first seconds of court time. San Antonio left a humdrum first quarter up one.
Champagnie saw his first three go down at the start of the second period, but de Larrea knocked down a couple of bankshots to draw Dallas even. An offensive foul drawn by Castle was challenged and overturned by Coach Dusty May. Lazy transition defense allowed de Larrea to toss a lob to Gafford that gave the Mavericks the lead back. Wembanyama woke up from an 18+ minute slumber to erase most of the deficit on his own, and Castle’s steal and slam combo put San Antonio back up. The rest of the half played out like a furious track meet with San Antonio maximizing their offensive chances. Fox provided the last opportunity of the half, as he knocked the ball away from a Mav and found Harper at the basket for an and-1 to make it 68-60 Spurs.
San Antonio forced turnovers on the Mavericks’ first two possessions of the third quarter. A minute later, Wembanyama turned away a Gafford turnaround which resulted in a shotclock violation. Scores by Castle and Harper increased the Spurs’ lead to double-digits for the first time. A Fox-to-Wembanyama lob made it 77-63 Spurs. But just as the viewing audience believed that they had finally figured it out, San Antonio settled for contested shots over several possessions. Two open jumpers from Marcus Sasser sandwiched around de Larrea’s second transition three of the quarter quickly made it a 2-point game. An out-of-bounds call on Dallas was challenged by May again and was overruled. de Larrea hit a baseline jumper to put the Mavericks back up. Buckets from Castle and Wembanyama put the Spurs up three going into the fourth.
For the Mavericks fan’s perspective, please visit Mavs Moneyball.
After a strange 23 hour SEGABABA, San Antonio gets two days off before hosting Darius Acuff and the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, October 27 at 7:00 PM CDT.
