NBA Recap: San Antonio Spurs overpower the Dallas Mavericks 97-91
Tony Parker landed a game-high 33 points, powering the NBA-Best San Antonio Spurs to a 97-91 win over the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines on Friday night. Spurs played the game after a three day layoff and were rusty. Greg
Popovich, the Spurs coach didn’t take any time to let his team know that. Just 42 seconds into the game, he called a time-out and gave his players an earful. Parker highlighted the fact after the game,
“When you have Pop in your ear for three days, it can be a long three days. In the film sessions we talked about not playing physical, not playing with intensity or playing good defense. Tonight we wanted to make sure we stayed
in front of people and made sure their shots were hard."
The leading team of the season put up a meager defense in the last game, which resulted in a massive 30-points loss against Miami Heat. They were determined to overcome the flaw as Popovich’s wakeup call in the preliminary moments
of the play did the trick for San Antonio.
Manu Ginobili contributed his part by supporting the star of the night with his 25 points to put the visiting team in the frontline. Dirk Nowitzki clinched a team-high 23 points as he had a substantial support off the bench to
escalate a belligerent confrontation. Jason Terry scored 19 points and realized the opportunity of more than 34 minutes that were provided to him in the game.
Nowitzki opened the scoring of the night with a jump shot as Spurs were regulated by their coach to fasten their defense. The visiting team lifted the momentum and romped with 10-0 run after the timeout to grab an early advantage.
San Antonio assailed with two scorching blows from downtown to ensure 10 points lead in the first period.
The visiting team sustained their momentum and clutched another 10-2 run to amplify the lead. The bench retaliated stoutly just before the halftime time to cut down the deficit 50-45 for the home team followed by two blistering
lands from Shawn Marion, as the game progressed into the first half.
Third quarter depicted some great aggression from both the teams to nip the advantage. Parker and Ginobili retaliated against the continuous strive from the Mavericks and led the Spurs to carry seven points advantage in the final
quarter.
The fourth quarter was filled with sheer excitement as both the teams went scoreless in the starting minutes of the period, giving a tough time to each other. Terry buried a sizzling land from downtown followed by a jumper to put
Dallas two points behind Spurs. However San Antonio also replied with three blows beyond the arc to stretch the lead to 84-77. Spurs kept their momentum intact as a couple of fouls from Mavericks provided the visiting team further advantage. Parker landed
four free throws in the defining moments of the play, subjugating the efforts pulled in by Terry as San Antonio cherished a magnificent win 97-91 in the end.
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