Game 63: Spurs go back-and-forth with Mavs, but fall in crunch time
(1) Harrison Barnes, Keldon Johnson, and Devin Vassell all score over 20 points. (2) Mavs were able to get inside the paint and make a new opponent season high in free throws.
FROST BANK CENTER - The San Antonio Spurs haven’t been favored in many games this season since losing Victor Wembanyama. However, against a Dallas Mavericks team that only had 8 healthy players available, the Spurs walked into Monday’s contest favored by 7 points.
The Spurs and Mavericks battled for 48 minutes, with neither team building a double digit lead throughout the night. In the final 5 minutes, the game reached crunch time, a place the Spurs haven’t been in since March 1. Dallas led by 3 going into crunch time, 117-114. After both teams went back-and-forth down the stretch (Mavs 16-15), Dallas ended up holding on for the 4-point win, 133-129.
“I thought the effort and intention was there for the most part,” said Spurs Acting Head Coach Mitch Johnson after the game. “I thought sometimes we got a little outside of ourselves in terms of some inappropriate fouls.”
“Some of that point of attack defense hurt us there,” said Coach Johnson of Dallas being able to get into the paint and either score, or draw shooting fouls.
“Obviously you’ve got to give credit to them, they came out there, and they executed their game plan,” said Harrison Barnes after the game. “I thought for us, we were right there. We just had some untimely turnovers, obviously my one at the end there, and just a few miscues on defense, but that’s the NBA.”
“You’re kind of getting into the game of just trading baskets and unfortunately, that wasn’t sustainable for us tonight, especially down the stretch there,” said Barnes of the Spurs scoring well during the game, but also not getting stops on the other end.
“Defense,” said Keldon Johnson of where the Spurs’ focus needs to be. “I feel like offensively we did a great job. I feel like we scored the ball enough to win an NBA game, but I feel like defensively we’ve got to lock in all together, and deep in those possessions, we’ve got to get those stops.”
By falling crunch time, the Spurs are now 12-15 in those crucial final five minutes, ranked 23rd. The Spurs are also now 14-6 when favored in a game this season. Since losing Wemby, the Spurs have fallen to 3-8 in their 11 games without him post All-Star break.
The loss dropped the Spurs to 26-37 overall, where they still sit at 13th out West.
Play-in race update: The loss puts the Spurs 5.5 games behind the Mavs (10th out West). The Spurs are also 3 games behind the Phoenix Suns (11th out West).
Lottery update: The loss did improve the Spurs’ lottery odds though. They’re now tied with the Chicago Bulls for the 8th lottery order spot. The Spurs are also 4.5 games ahead of the Brooklyn Nets (7th) and Philadelphia 76ers (6th), as well as 5 games ahead of the Toronto Raptors (5th).
On Offense
Just like in their loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, the Spurs did enough to win the game on offense, as Keldon said in his postgame comments. The Spurs put 129 points on the scoreboard, shot 52% from the floor, and only turned the ball over 9 times.
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