The road to a second NBA Finals appearance for the Dallas Mavericks is off to a great start.
Not only did the Mavs beat the San Antonio Spurs, 120-109, but they also got some vintage Klay Thompson, who shot 6-for-10 from downtown and finished with 22 points on top of 7 rebounds and 3 steals.
The two teams actually went tit-for-tat in the first half, with San Antonio building as much as a five-point advantage, 47-42, on a Keldon Johnson trey and a Victor Wembanyama alley-oop—both courtesy of Chris Paul dimes. A jumper from Kyrie Irving and a triple from Jaden Hardy nudged the Mavs closer, but San Antonio nonetheless took a 49-47 lead going to intermission.
Mavs Serve Up Third-Quarter Storm
Dallas, retook the lead a minute into the third canto with a Thompson triple, then took over for good, 53-51, with another booming trey, this time from Irving. The floodgates soon opened for the Mavs, who raced out to a 69-55 lead with four triples—one each from Thompson and Luka Doncic and two from Irving—plus a tip-in from Daniel Gafford and two freebies from Thompson for a backbreaking 16-4 blitz to start the third.
The Mavs kept up that hot shooting from downtown, making three more in the third canto and sinking five in the final frame as they held off every Spurs uprising. Dallas shot 13-for-21 overall in the second half, with Doncic and Thompson alone hitting four treys apiece after intermission.
Doncic finished with a near triple-double of 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists to lead the Mavs. Irving and Dereck Lively II added 15 apiece. Jeremy Sochan paced the Spurs with 18 points and 8 rebounds, while Wembanyama had 17 markers and 9 caroms.
What’s Next?
The Mavs travel to Arizona for an early-season showdown with Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, while the Spurs start their home stand against the Houston Rockets, also on Sunday.
