The Mavericks did what they needed to do against a depleted Spurs team.
The Dallas Mavericks (6-7) finally righted the ship, at least a little, when they took down the San Antonio Spurs (6-8) 110-93 on Saturday night. It was not a pretty win, nor did it feel dominant, but the Mavericks won nonetheless. Another slow start saw Dallas trailing 28-23 after one quarter, but the Mavericks squeaked out a four-point lead by halftime. The third quarter blew the game wide open and Dallas didn’t look back after their 38-point explosion. With another game in less than 24 hours, securing a win by the end of the third quarter was crucial. Here are three stats that stood out from tonight’s win:
0: The number of losses that Dallas has when Daniel Gafford scores 20+
The Mavericks are now 4-0 when Gafford pours in 20 points. He played his second game of the year off the bench and was dominant in that role. He is the perfect reserve; he is strong, great at protecting the rim, and an imposing roll presence. When he plays well, so does Dallas, and if he can keep this up the bench receives a huge boost. Winning the time without Luka Doncic on the floor is key and Gafford will help with that going forward.
8: The margin of victory in the rebound battle
Rebounding and boxing out have escaped Dallas recently, so winning the rebound battle tonight was a good sign. They only allowed 13 offensive rebounds, which was down from the 16 and 18 they gave up in the last two losses. 40 defensive rebounds on 60 Spurs misses would give them a defensive rebound rate of 66.7 percent, almost ten points higher than their season average. Cleaning the glass and limiting opportunities is key for this team to get a rhythm, so this has to be closer to the norm than an outlier.
28: The number of minutes Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic played
On the first night of a back-to-back, Doncic and Irving playing less than 30 minutes was huge. They travel north to visit their old friends, the Oklahoma City Thunder, on Sunday for a 6 PM CT tip, so the importance of rest for Dallas’ two stars is amplified when you factor in the short turnover between games. In a must-win, must-dominate game, the Mavericks were able to get enough of a push to limit the stress on their all-world players.