The San Antonio Spurs have uncorked a little bit of everything — from career-high performances to Victor Wembanyama’s dominance to a balanced offensive attack — in their current five-game winning streak.
Will the Spurs have another card to show when they host the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday to conclude a three-game homestand?
It’s the second meeting of the season between the Lone Star State rivals. The Spurs took the first meeting 122-106 on Oct. 24 in Dallas in a game in which Mavericks star Cooper Flagg sat out with a strained left shoulder.
The Spurs return to the court after a near-wire-to-wire 119-97 victory over Utah on Monday. Dylan Harper — fresh off a regular-season career-high 25 points on Saturday against Minnesota — scored 17 points to lead a balanced attack that saw all five San Antonio starters score in double figures. The Spurs are now 5-2 after a pair of losses to Oklahoma City and Houston to start the season.
Stephon Castle, who added 16 points for San Antonio on Monday, said the team’s learning curve has accelerated this year.
“Just being able to watch that film and have things replaying in the back of our mind from last year that we went over for a whole year,” Castle explained. “So yeah, I think it’s definitely a process that’s been speeding up.”
Keldon Johnson scored 15 off the bench on Monday, and Wembanyama settled for a season-low-tying 12 points along with 11 rebounds. Harrison Barnes chipped in 13 points, De’Aaron Fox added 12 and Devin Vassell tallied 11 for the Spurs.
“Do I feel as though we’re playing to our standards?” Johnson asked after Monday’s win. “At times, yes. But do I feel like we could do better? Yes. If we felt like we’re the best version of ourselves at this point in the season, we’ll be in trouble. We just continue to stack days and get better. We will improve, and we continue to improve.”
Dallas heads south to the Alamo City after a disappointing 115-100 loss at home to the previously winless Sacramento Kings on Monday that snapped the Mavericks’ three-game winning streak.
Daniel Gafford and Walter Clayton Jr. poured in 20 points each to lead Dallas while Flagg scored 17 points on a ragged 3-for-19 showing from the floor. Morez Johnson Jr. added 13 points, and P.J. Washington produced 12 points in the loss.
“We’ll have several learning experiences from (Monday’s loss),” Dallas coach Dusty May said. “We do have a young team, and when it’s not going well, we just keep stressing about everything that’s going poorly for us. But let’s just find a way to hang around and get it to the end.”
The Mavericks played Monday’s contest without Kyrie Irving (left knee injury management), who is averaging 21.4 points per game this season. That’s second to only Flagg’s 25.2 ppg on the team.
Did Dallas take the 0-6 Kings too lightly? Maybe, and that’s something that can’t happen in the NBA. It will be a lot easier for the Mavericks to have their focus set on beating San Antonio, one of the best teams in the league.
“There were times when shots didn’t fall (against Sacramento), and I felt like we kind of let go of the rope in those situations,” Gafford said. “We’ll focus on the next one. We’ve got a big game coming up against a good Spurs team.”
