Any coach worth his salt will remind everyone that his players on the bench are just as important as his starters.
That certainly was the case for the short-handed Dallas Mavericks Thursday night as they fell behind by 20 points before getting new life pumped into them by their bench. The result: The Mavs were able to ease out of American Airlines Center with a big sigh of relief and a 104-99 triumph over the San Antonio Spurs in front of a sellout crowd of 19,228.
Reserve guard Jalen Brunson (19 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and backup center Maxi Kleber (12 points, 10 rebounds, career-high tying six blocks) were the power sources the Mavs used to run their won-loss record to 3-1 heading into Friday night’s game in Denver. Without that big boost from Brunson and Kleber, the Mavs might have walked out of AAC with some sad faces.
“They won us the game,” point guard Luka Doncic said of the Mavs’ bench. “They were amazing, led by JB and Maxi.
“But the whole bench – credit to everybody. They put us back into the game and they were amazing today.”
After the way the Mavs started the game, they really did need something amazing to happen to turn this one around. Unable to locate the basket or find any energy, the Mavs misfired on 10 of their first 11 shots and fell behind 23-3 at the 4:50 mark of the first quarter.
However, Brunson and Kleber hopped off the bench and immediately got things turned around.
“I didn’t think we were going to get that slow of a start, but it happens in this league,” coach Jason Kidd said. “This is team win, but the bench came in and gave us some energy that was much-needed, and then from that point on we started to get into the game.”
The Mavs bolted ahead, 97-86, with 5:07 left after Doncic either scored or assisted on nine consecutive points.
But the pesky Spurs (1-4) fought to within 102-99 of the Mavs with 1:01 to go following as 3-pointer by Dejounte Murray. But the Spurs missed a chance to inch closer when they missed a pair of shots near the rim, and Reggie Bullock split two free throws with 20.6 seconds left to stretch Dallas’ lead to 103-99.
Brunson said when he entered the game he wanted to: “Just change the game up somehow, some way and get the ball rolling in our favor. A couple of guys, we got in there and just tried to pick up the pace a little bit and make the game just a little bit more physical on our end of the floor.”
Bodies were in short supply for the Mavs, who played without Kristaps Porzingis (lower back tightness), Sterling Brown (left ankle sprain), Boban Marjanovic (lower back tightness) and Trey Burke (health and safety protocols). But with Frank Ntilikina finishing with six points and four rebounds and a plus/minus of pus-24, and Kleber collecting a plus-minus of plus-22, and Brunson finishing with a plus/minus of plus-21, it’s no wonder the Mavs pointed to their bench as the reason they were able to escape the Spurs.
Especially since every starter except Reggie Bullock – his plus/minus was plus-10 – had a plus/minus of minus six or worse.
“I thought they were moving a little bit faster than that first group,” Kidd said of his second unit. “For (Brunson) and Maxi, again, that bench (was great), and Frank was great, too.
“When we were down a guy, the next guy up, Frank answered the call. That bench got us going and then everybody else started to participate there in the second half.”
Despite that sluggish start, the Mavs were only down 25-15 after the first quarter and 49-47 at halftime.
“It was just a bad start,” said Doncic, who finished with 25 points and five assists. “We didn’t play with any energy.
“Everybody was sloppy. Me the first one. We shouldn’t let this happen again. It was a terrible start.”
Kidd also credits his team’s frenetic defense – the slow start defensively notwithstanding – for bottling up the Spurs and making life a bit miserable for their I-35 visitors.
“We talk about runs, and in that locker room we talk about defensive runs, not so much offensive runs,” Kidd said. “I think there for a minute we went on a six-minute run defensively where we held them scoreless, and that’s going to help us when we’re not making shots.”
Brunson, who scored 15 of his points in the first half, noted that the Mavs started off too timid on the defensive end of the floor, thus allowing the Spurs more freedom to roam the court at will. That changed once the bench players got on the court.
“We just tried to get a little physical,” Brunson said. “They were kind of playing with a flow and with a rhythm, and we kind of messed up their rhythm a little bit.
“They hit tough shots. Even when we played solid defense they still made shots. But like I said, we found ways.”
Indeed, the second unit found ways on a night when the first unit were just a couple of steps slow.
“It happens sometimes, the first group comes up with less energy,” Kleber said. “Sometimes the second group always got to be sure that everybody stays involved.
“And when JB and I came in we just wanted to pick up the pace a little bit and talk more and be right on defense, because we had open looks, we had good looks. We just didn’t make them. But we can’t let the offense dictate our defense, so for us it was just to go and play hard on defense no matter what happens on offense.”
That’s the same formula for success the Mavs hope to use when they play the Nuggets in Denver on Friday at 9 p.m.”
“It’s a tough back-to-back flying to Denver, but we’ve got to do the same thing.,” Kleber said. “Just come with a lot of energy and play hard.
“There’s going to be a stretch where we have to fight through. But I think if our shot is not falling, we still have the talent and we’ve shown that we can play better defense. And if we keep doing that consistently, we don’t have to worry about our shot-making.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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