Beyond the Box Score: Leonard’s season debut spoiled as Spurs fall to Dallas

 DALLAS, Texas – The San Antonio Spurs got a team-high 23 points from power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, and Rudy Gay added 21 points off the bench, but it was not enough against Dallas as the Spurs fell 95-89 at the hands of the Mavericks on Tuesday evening at American Airlines Center.

THE BASICS

• Score: San Antonio Spurs 89, Dallas Mavericks 95
• Records: Spurs (19-9) | Mavericks (8-20)
• Date:T ues, Dec. 12 | 7:30 p.m. Tip-off
• Location: American Airlines Center | Dallas, Texas.
• Series: San Antonio Spurs lead the all-time series 127-84
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TURNING POINT:

The Spurs got within three points of Dallas with just over six minutes left in regulation, but that was as close as they got as the Mavericks outscored San Antonio 28-20 in the fourth quarter en route to their eighth win of the season.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• San Antonio shot 40.2 percent (35-for-87) from the floor, while Dallas was 38-of-89 (42.7 percent) from the floor in the win.
• The Spurs went just 7-of-28 from three in the loss and went 12-of-19 (63.2 percent) from the free throw line. The Mavericks, meanwhile, were 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) from downtown and went 10-of-12 from the foul line (83.3 percent).
• The Spurs gave up 38+ points in the paint for the third consecutive game when Dallas finished with 40 points in the paint on Tuesday
• San Antonio finished with 20 assists as a team on the night, while Dallas just finishes with 17

INSIDE THE FLOW:

• The first half saw just one tie and two lead changes, as the Mavs took control of the game early, but the Spurs ended the half on a 12-6 run to trail by two at the break
• A three-foot hook shot 17 seconds into the game gave the Spurs its largest lead (2-0) of the first half
• Trailing 36-30 with 8:06 left in the half, Aldridge/Gay combine to score the next 11 Spurs points over the next eight-plus minutes
• The Spurs start the second half with a 7-0 lead (51-46) after an 18-foot jump shot by Tony Parker with 8:40 left in the third quarter
• An 8-4 run by Dallas in the last 2:38 of the third helped the Mavs maintain a two-point cushion after three quarters
• Following Bryn Forbes’ second missed free throw with 6:12 left in regulation, Mavs go on 10-2 run to take a 11-point lead with 4:29 left
• Mavs end game on 16-13 run to snap three-game skid

NOTABLES:

• Perennial NBA All-Star Kawhi Leonard records 13 points on 6-of-12 (50%) shooting, six rebounds, one steal, one assist, and a team-high +8 efficiency rating in his season-debut
• The Spurs finished with a season-low 10 turnovers on the day; the lowest turnovers in a game since Game 4 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals vs Golden State Warriors (May 22, 2017)
• Gay recorded 21 points on Tuesday; his sixth-straight double-digit performance, fourth-straight 15+ point performance
• Aldridge surpassed the 20-point plateau for the third-consecutive game; has reached double-figure point performances in all 27 games played in this season

UP NEXT:

• San Antonio finishes out its three-game road trip at the Toyota Center against the Houston Rockets on Friday, Dec. 15 at 8:30 p.m. CST.