Kristaps Porzingis scored 32 points that season, Luka Doncic had 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds and the Dallas Mavericks beat the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night with 123-109.
“Playing with Luka is extremely easy,” said Porzingis. “He takes so much pressure off everyone else. Makes everyone else better and gets more open looks.”
Dallas won the season streak against its domestic rival with its third straight win over San Antonio in the first 12 games of the season.
The Mavericks didn’t want a repeat of a Wednesday night loss when the Chicago Bulls took control in the third quarter on their way to a 117-107 win. Dallas achieved this, beating San Antonio in the third game 34:20.
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“I’m just trying to learn from our losses,” said Mavericks striker Dorian Finney-Smith. “We hit the last game in the third quarter. In that game we wanted to come out and learn from our mistakes and come out and hit them in the face.”
Devin Vassell had 20 points, Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson each had 15 points, and Doug McDermott added 14 for the Spurs. San Antonio has not won any consecutive games this season.
“We can’t get too complacent after getting a win,” said Spurs striker Doug McDermott.
Dallas won a total of four out of five.
The Spurs closed on a 20-9 run, but the game was out of reach after the first half.
The Mavericks focused on protecting the ball after giving up 19 losses in their previous win against the Spurs on Nov. 3. Dallas did this. low five turnovers.
“They are aggressive, they will use their length and get out in the fast lanes,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd. “We felt we had to watch the ball and we did that tonight in both the first and second halves.”
San Antonio was without a starting center Jakob Pöltl, who is still subject to the league’s health and safety protocols.
“We miss Jak,” said Vassell. “It is obvious that we are playing small. At the moment we have to adapt.”
Dallas, especially Porzingis, also took advantage of the smaller San Antonio lineup.
“I think we took advantage of the discrepancies,” said Porzingis. “We played big down there. We trust each other that we want to share the ball. We want the other team to pay for these disparities.”
Porzingis is only playing in his fourth game since returning from a back injury and has scored 54 points in his last two games. He finished 12 for 22 out of the field and 3 for 9 on 3-pointers.
“If little people guard us, we have to take advantage of that,” said Doncic.
POELTLS STATUS
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said Poeltl could travel with the team on his upcoming three-game road trip, which opens with the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Popovich joked that he was unclear when a reporter noticed his own insecurity with the logs.
“You really are not alone,” said Popovich. “The last word I have. Uh … it’s 50-50. He has to do a test or two. “
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Doncic showed up smiling and unharmed after jumping upside down in the second row after being fouled from behind by Drew Eubanks. Doncic jumped to dodge the fans in the front row and planted himself upside down in the laps of those in the second row. … Porzingis’ season high up to now was 22 points against Chicago on November 10th. … Dallas will not meet San Antonio again until the season finale for both teams on April 10th. Kidd said the team will update Kleber’s status on Monday.
Spurs: C Jock Landale missed the game due to the league’s health and safety protocols. … F Keita Bates-Diop was a late scratch off the line-up with a bruise in her lower back. … San Antonio only had 10 players available due to injury or illness, along with G-League appearances for Josh Primo and Joe Wieskamp.
NEXT
Mavericks: hosted Denver on Monday.
Spurs: On Sunday at the Los Angeles Lakers.
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