San Antonio Spurs survive a late surge by Dallas Mavericks to win 113-107: NBA Recap
San Antonio Spurs were missing of services of their head coach Gregg Popovich and All-Star Tim Duncan but they still came out strong in the 113-107 over the Dallas Mavericks here at the American Airlines Center Friday night.
It was a team effort by the Spurs side; Tony Parker led San Antonio with 23 points and 10 assists. DeJuan Blair had 22 points coming off the bench, while Gary Neal chipped in with 18 points in the winning cause. Seven Spurs crossed
the 10 point mark in the game a stat which shows they are one of the deepest teams in the league.
Rodrigue Beaubois led the Mavericks with 19 points coming off the bench. Vince Carter had 17 points while O.J chipped in with 14 points in the losing cause.
"They played at a higher level than we did. We had some stretches where I thought we were doing OK. Our shot making really wasn't there and that was a problem. The run to start the third quarter was decisive. That put us in a huge
hole." Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle commented.
Both Popovich and Duncan did not travel to the Dallas tonight and the Spurs had another scare as Tony Parker had an incident in the game and suffered two cuts near his left eye. He received treatment and returned midway in the
game to carry the Spurs to victory.
Spurs started off the game well and made a few early runs in the game to go in front early and then stay ahead. The pushed their lead to 7 points by the end of the first period.
They kept the pressure on the Mavs in the second quarter as well and did not let them get in front. San Antonio maintained their upper hand till the end of the quarter to head into the locker room leading by a comfortable 10 points.
Mavericks started aggressively in the third period, but the plan backfired as the Spurs capitalised on the Mavs turnovers to keep racing ahead. Spurs had extended their lead to 20 points by the end of the period.
Most pundits would have called it game over for the Mavericks at that stage, but they showed signs of resilience as they outscored the Spurs 39-25 in the final quarter to go down 107-113 in the end.
Tags: