Dallas and San Antonio met for the third time so far this year and, as in the previous two, the victory fell on the Mavs’ side. On this occasion, Kidd’s team won by 109-123, a score somewhat made up by the Spurs that does not fully reflect the true distance between the two teams. Dallas, who dominated very clearly throughout the second half, came to win by up to 27 points of difference, and only in the final minutes, with the game already decided, Popovich’s men managed to close the gap.
And it is that Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis were too much for some Spurs who found no way to stop the European duo. With 32 points each, both finished as top scorers of the match, although their role was not limited simply to adding baskets. The Latvian managed to capture 7 rebounds and place 3 blocks, while Luka managed to sign his first triple-double of the season by adding 12 sacks and distributing 15 assists, which made him score or assist more than half of the field goals of Texans (26 of 46).
Both also starred in several actions in which they understood each other very well, and at the end of the meeting Porzingis wanted to emphasize that he feels very comfortable with the Slovenian: “Playing with Luka is extremely easy. It takes a lot of pressure off the rest. It makes others better and allows us to have a lot of open shots ».
Both were well accompanied by Jalen Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith, authors of 17 and 15 goals respectively, who were also essential so that the distance did not stop widening in the third quarter. Dallas prevailed in that period by 34-20, firing the advantage and allowing a placid closing.
At the Spurs, the scoring was somewhat more distributed, although Devin Vassell, with 20 points, and Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson, with 15 each, were the most prominent men. Those of San Antonio still cannot count on Jakob Poeltl, absent due to sanitary protocols, which made them go back to being short of centimeters and made it easier for the Mavericks, especially Porzingis, to add in the paint, which ended up costing them dearly.
(Cover photo: Tom Pennington / Getty Images)
