Final: Spurs 98, Mavs 96

Box Score | Highlights

Behind the Box Score

Tonight was Dirk Nowitzki’s 1,424th game, tying Kevin Willis for sixth place on the all-time career games played list. If Nowitzki ends up playing all 82 games this season, he’ll move past Kevin Garnett and into a tie with Karl Malone for fourth place all-time at 1,476. Playing all 82 would be some feat at this age, but that’s Nowitzki’s goal. (And so is staying healthy and happy enough to play season No. 21.)

Notebook

  • Dirk Nowitzki could hit turnaround jumpers over helplessly mismatched point guards until he’s 50 years old.

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    The German has now scored at least 16 points in four of his last eight games and has scored 18-plus two games in a row. He’s been in a really nice run of form lately, and it remains extremely fun to watch him work when he’s got it going. That guy is 39 years old and he’s still getting buckets. Incredible.

  • Yogi Ferrell filled up the stat sheet tonight. The second-year pro finished 17 points, a career-high 11 rebounds, and six assists. He became the first Mavs point guard to have a points/rebounds double-double since Jason Kidd. Ferrell has done a nice job filling in at starting 1 for the injured Dennis Smith Jr., scoring in double-figures in four straight games. One thing that’s been tough to manage while he’s been starting, however, is finding a way to bend the rotation so that he still gets on the court alongside J.J. Barea and Devin Harris. Rick Carlisle was able to make it happen in the first half, and the Mavs immediately went on a 7-0 run. Here was the first bucket of said run.

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    Ferrell hit us all with the hesi and got to the rim. It was one of many nice plays he made in this one, with most of them coming on the inglorious boards.

  • Last year was Yogimania, and now might it be time for Maximania…? That dude is ballin’ lately, and it continued tonight. Kleber scored a career-high 21 points, becoming the first Mavs rookie forward since Dirk Nowitzki to score at least 20 in a game, per Basketball-Reference, a stat that’s almost too poetic to be true. Kleber did it in a variety of ways, draining three 3s but also mixing in a nice alley-oop layup from Nowitzki and a vicious dunk.

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    What’s Next

    The Mavs (8-22) will play the Phoenix Suns (9-21) on Monday at the American Airlines Center at 7:30 p.m. Central.

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