DALLAS, TEXAS — It’s been a lukewarm start to April for the Mavericks losing their second game of the month 119-117 to the Spurs. During the Mavericks hot stretch they found success from beyond the arc and from their bench, but have struggled to replicate that success through 6 games in April. Dallas’s record so far is 4-2, but the 2 games they lost have looked quite similar and it was two games against teams with lesser records than the Mavericks.
Offensively, the primary production came by way of the due Kristaps Porzingis and Luka Doncic. Porzingis scored 13 first quarter points and 4 rebounds while Luka set up his teammates and found range from three. The remainder of the team shot 33% from the field and missed all of their three point shot attempts. The Mavericks found themselves in a similar predicament they were in their past two games, having trouble converting from beyond the arc early in the game and overall ball security. Dallas turned the ball over 4 times in the first quarter which translated into easy buckets on the other end for the Spurs.
The Mavericks did just enough to finish the first quarter tied with the Spurs 26-26 and converted on 50% of the shots from the field while knocking down 3 out of 8 of their three point shots, which was a slight turnaround.
The Spurs did work on the defensive end and forced two Mavericks turnovers and converted them into points continuing their trend of grabbing easy buckets at the start of the second quarter and took the lead. Kristaps Porzingis continued his scoring dominance in the second quarter converting on 50% of his 6 shots from the field and wreaking havoc on the defensive end and on the board recording 4 defensive rebounds and 2 blocks.
Luka Doncic and Josh Richardson converted on 63% of their shots combined from the field and scored 11 points. Dallas got solid production from all parties involved and that played a major part in finishing the first half with a 56-51 lead.
The Mavericks offense went cold from the field to begin the third quarter and missed their first 4 shots from the field and committed another turnover after committing 8 in just the first half. The Mavericks lead was flipped into a deficit after the Spurs went on a 13-2 run and made it late into the third quarter with a 7 point lead. Like the duo of Doncic and Porzingis took over for the Mavs offensively in the first half they did in the third quarter. Luka Doncic had an explosive quarter shooting 50% from the field and scored 12 points in the process and Kristaps Porzingis made 2 buckets with one being a throw down tip back dunk.
Dallas finished the third quarter with a 1 point 89-88 lead against a 10th seeded Spurs team that were hungry for a win knowing play in tournament implications were on the line.
The Spurs displayed their hunger for a huge win on the road and began the fourth quarter with another 11-4 run to move ahead of the Mavericks again. Demar Derozan and Dejountae Murray scored more than 20 points for the game and Lonnie Walker IV gave the Spurs a huge lift off the bench with 13 points scored. The Mavericks were able to get back within range of the lead trailing the Spurs 104-105, but their offense went cold again from the field again. San Antonio forced a turnover and then forced the Mavericks to miss a few shots and almost developed a double digit lead with less than 3 minutes to go in the game. Dallas responded by biting down defensively which led to success on the offensive end scoring 4 straight baskets to bring the Spurs to within 2 points with a minute remaining on the clock.
In the process of the Mavericks run Kristaps Porzingis recorded his 6th foul fouling out with 31 points and 15 rebounds which led the Mavericks in scoring at the time. Luka Doncic put the team on his back in his absence and helped the Mavericks tie the game after a nice floater with 19.8 seconds left. After the shot the Spurs called a timeout and during that timeout Greg Poppovich drew up the play that would deliver the dagger to steal a win on the road in their rivals house.
Foul trouble, poor three point shooting was the difference in this game. Also, Dallas didn’t get the typical production from the bench they are accustomed to during their hot stretch. It’s possible the Mavericks have hit a lukewarm stretch as the regular season begins to wind down.
