The San Antonio Spurs rebounded from a poor first half to defeat the Dallas Mavericks (20-24) 105-101 at the AmericanAirlines Center on Wednesday night.
The win saw the Silver and Black snap their two-game slide and get back to their winning ways. The game also saw Rudy Gay and Marco Belinelli return from injury after the pair missed time on the court.
“The second through fourth quarters were the difference,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We competed. We stuck in and I’m proud of our guys for not succumbing to a good quarter from Dallas. It was a good win for us.”
Here is what went good and bad, as well as three standout players: DeMar DeRozan, Marco Belinelli, and Patty Mills.
The Good:
- After being down 16 points in the first half, the Spurs dug deep and came out with an important win.
- DeRozan broke out of his slump and delivered a massive fourth quarter performance.
- Rudy Gay joined the 15,000 point club.
The Bad:
- San Antonio came out flat as they went down 15 at the end of the first quarter.
- LaMarcus Aldridge was in foul trouble and thus it had an effect on his shooting as he finished with just 8 points on 4-for-11 shooting from the field.
Three Standout Players:
DeMar DeRozan:
After a few off nights, the guard finally returned to form in Dallas and officially cemented himself into this historic Spurs-Mavs rivalry.
DeRozan finished with 14 points on 46 percent shooting and added nine assists. The fourth quarter saw the former Raptor score eight points and five assists. He scored four straight points in the games clutch moments and found Davis Bertans for a big three-pointer that gave the Silver and Black the lead for good.
“I put behind the previous three quarters of not being aggressive,” DeRozan said of his final 12 minutes. “My mindset was to get the ball and make good plays.”
Marco Belinelli:
The Italian returned to the court after missing Monday’s game against Charlotte with a sore knee. He came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points and shoot 38 percent from three-point range.
Patty Mills:
The Aussie guard continued to make solid contributions off the bench on Monday as he too also broke out of a mini-slump.
Mills added 14 points off the bench as he and Belinelli combined for 31 of the 51 points from the second unit.
UP NEXT:
The Spurs are now 26-20 on the season and will return to the court on Friday night when they travel to Minneapolis to face Minnesota Timberwolves (21-23) at 7 pm Central Time from the Target Center.
