SAN ANTONIO – The Mavericks kept their streak intact of not losing two games in a row this season when they manhandled the San Antonio Spurs 123-109 Friday night.
It was their third meeting with the Spurs in nine games. The Mavericks went 3-0.
Here’s our takeaways from the victory that moved them to a Southwest Division-leading 8-4. As you might suspect after his first triple-double of the season, these are a bit Luka-centric.
REMEMBERING THE RULES: When the shot clock was running down and Luka Dončić was in his favorite spot, the left wing about 25 feet from the basket. He needed to go up for one of his 3-pointers and, for a moment, it looked like was going to jump into the defender to his right to draw contact and, hopefully, a foul. Oops. NBA players can’t do that anymore under the new “no non-basketball moves” rule that prevents abrupt, unnatural plays being called for a foul on the defense. Luka adjusted. He instead pulled up toward his left side and let it fly. Moments later, the Mavericks had three points and the Spurs were left shaking their heads about another Luka-Magic moment. “I think it was just a fake,” Dončić said postgame. “I still had the dribble. I don’t really know. I think it was a fake.” Asked if he perhaps thought ever so briefly about the new rule, he said: “Maybe. If that happened, it’s good.”
ALL TOGETHER NOW: The marriage of Luka and Kristaps Porzingis is a thing of beauty at its blissful best. We got a nice view of it Friday night. Both players scored 32 points. It’s really the first time we’ve seen them both hitting on all cylinders at the same time. And coach Jason Kidd made a concerted effort to get both players attacking the smaller Spurs’ lineup. “One of our strengths is shooting the ball,” he said. “And sometimes we can rely on that. But I thought the way we started the game inside, going to KP and LD right off the bat, that set the tone. LD ends up with a triple-double, but also KP made great decisions in the post, too. Everybody was unselfish and we went from good to great on our shots.”
CAN’T SCORE WITHOUT THE BALL: The Mavericks had a season-low five turnovers. The last time they were in San Antonio, they had 19 and needed a steal on the final possession to preserve a one-point win. This time, they cruised to a 27-point lead late in the third quarter and coasted home from there. Coincidence? I think not.
FROM THE CORNER, IT’S A GONER: Dončić loves the left angle outside the 3-point arc. We all have seen his greatness from that spot. What he doesn’t do a lot of is shooting the corner 3-pointer, widely considered the easiest long-range shot because it’s about 18 inches closer than shots from beyond the arc on the wing or on top of the arc. Against the Spurs, Dončić hit one, not surprising considering he was hitting a lot of shots all night long. “I remember the stats from last year,” he said. “I was like, 60 percent on corner threes. But I don’t get a lot of corner threes. I plan to take more.” Opponents can consider themselves on alert.
UNSUNG HERO: In every win, there’s usually somebody who doesn’t get mentioned that had a big role in the victory. Against the Spurs, it was Willie Cauley-Stein, who didn’t score a single point, but had a blocked shot, a couple rebounds and an assist in nine minutes of playing time. He was part of a very productive bench. “Willie was great for us off the bench, someone who didn’t score, but affected the game defensively for us at a high rate,” Kidd said. “That’s not going to be on ESPN, but what he did for us when he was in there was big tonight.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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