No Tony Parker no problem; San Antonio Spurs thrash Dallas Mavericks 104-87: NBA Recap
Brendan Haywood has now missed four games in a row due to a right knee sprain and his absence in the paint is starting to take a toll on the Dallas Mavericks. A night after getting outrebounded by 17 against the Los Angeles Lakers,
the Mavs got thrashed 54-34 on the glass and 50-16 on the points in the paint on their way to a 104-87 loss against Tony Parker-less San Antonio Spurs.
The loss has left the defending champions in a rather precarious position at the sixth position in Western Conference. With a 27-22 record, they are only one game ahead of Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets and the Denver Nuggets and any
further slip up cam mean curtains for them.
With Manu Ginobili replacing Parker at the point guard position, Danny Green started as a shooting guard and led the team with 18 point, 6 boards and 6 assists. Veteran big Tim Duncan had 15 points and 12 rebound; Matt Bonner connected
4-of-5 from downtown for 14; Kawhi Leonard chipped in with 12 while Ginobili had 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
On a night when Boris Diaw made his debut for the Spurs, Stephen Jackson for nearly 22 playing minutes and impressed with 10 points and 8 rebounds.
The Spurs were magnificent on defense. They never allowed the Mavs any breakaway runs and more importantly, kept their ace Dirk Nowitzki under check. Nowitzki shot 5-of-21 for only 16 points; Jason Terry had 18 while birthday boy
Jason Kidd managed 14.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich praised the defensive effort of his team;
"I thought the overall team defense was pretty good. That was probably the best part of the game. (Diaw) did a fine job (on defense). No matter who was out there, we were pretty aggressive."
The Spurs had solid start and were leading by 20-13 late in the first quarter. An 8-2 Dallas run however restored parity going into the last thirty seconds of the frame, which ended at 24-21 for the Spurs.
Bonner was on fire from distance early in the second. He drilled three treys in the first 4:06 of the frame, the last one pushing the Spurs lead to 39-31. San Antonio stretched the lead to as many as 10 on their way to a 52-45
edge at the break, but an 8-2 run from the Mavericks at the start of the third, made it interesting at 53-54.
Nearly two minutes later, the Mavericks took the lead on a triple by Kidd.
Duncan responded with a deuce to tie the game, but a jumper from Terry and another three by Kidd put Dallas up by 5, 63-58. The defending NBA champions however missed the next seven attempts from the floor to allow the Spurs a
12-0 run.
Spurs closed the quarter ahead by seven and then pulled off a 10-2 spurt at the beginning of the fourth to seal the game.
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