Doncic Leads Mavs In Win Over Spurs With Porzingis Sidelined

The Dallas Mavericks did not have Kristaps Porzingis available for the team's matchup with the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday. The team still came away with a win.

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks hosted the San Antonio Spurs in part of the NBA's Thursday slate of action. Despite Kristaps Porzingis being sidelined for the contest, the Mavs managed to get by with a 104-99 victory as Reggie Bullock started in his place.

It's difficult to envision the Mavericks being capable of pulling off a more flat start to the game than what occurred. Dallas trailed the Spurs by as many as 18-1 at the 6:44 mark of the opening period after Lonnie Walker IV converted on a pair of free throws. 

“I didn’t think we were going to get that slow of a start, but it happens in this league,” coach Jason Kidd said. “This is team win, but the bench came in and gave us some energy that was much-needed, and then from that point on we started to get into the game.”

There was a clear effort from the Mavericks to run actions for complementary players by playing a more balanced approach. However, deep drop coverage against ball screens made it difficult for Luka Doncic to operate and thrive using Dwight Powell as a screener. Doncic looked to the post at times as a result. 

Despite the Mavericks' struggles to put points on the board in the opening half, the team used a 10-0 run from the bench unit to take a 30-29 lead. Jalen Brunson took charge of the initiation duties — providing a needed spark. 

The Mavericks caught fire from beyond the arc in the second quarter — helping to gain the team's first few leads of the game. However, a catch-and-shoot jumper from the perimeter by Bryn Forbes pushed the Spurs back on top

 at halftime with 49-47 being the score. 

When Luka Doncic struggles to produce strong offensive results, the Mavericks' offense as a whole tends to follow, which certainly was the case in the first half. He finished with just seven points while racking up four turnovers. Meanwhile, Dallas was outscored by 23 points when he was on the floor.

Dallas put together another solid performance in the third quarter — scoring 29 points. However, it wasn't enough to create much for separation as the Spurs managed to total 27 points of their own in the scoring column.

Doncic decided enough was enough in the fourth quarter and began operating heavily using ball screens from Dwight Powell. With Doncic getting deep into the paint for finishes and assisting opportunities, the Spurs opted to switch things up and switch screens. 

At one point, Doncic converted back-to-back stepback jumpers from beyond the arc against Jakob Poeltl after the Spurs switched ball screens — giving the Mavericks the team's first double-figure advantage of the contest with 4:06 remaining in regulation. 

The Mavericks went on to maintain the lead they had established with Doncic setting the tone in a major way in the fourth quarter. 

Doncic finished with 25 points, three rebounds, and five assists as the Mavericks' top performance. Brunson was pivotal as well — totaling 19 points, seven rebounds, and five assists on the night. 

Next up for the Dallas Mavericks is a road matchup against the Denver Nuggets on Friday at 9 p.m. (CT). The matchup will be nationally televised on ESPN. 

“It’s a tough back-to-back flying to Denver, but we’ve got to do the same thing,” said Maxi Kleber, part of Dallas’ strong bench. “Just come with a lot of energy and play hard.”