The Dallas Mavericks (8-22) have lost to the San Antonio Spurs (20-10) after a devastating final phase, without three of their stars. Actually, the team around a strong Dirk Nowitzki had everything under control – but scored a 13:0 run in the last four minutes. Manu Ginobili met the game winner for 98:96, it was the first Spurs lead ever. It was a pity about Maxi Kleber’s Career Night.
The Spurs had played the “other” Texas duel against the Rockets the day before, which is why coach Gregg Popovich spared some players. Tony Parker, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard (who is still limited to minutes anyway) were all missing. Dejounte Murray, Bryn Forbes and Rudy Gay started for them.
This diced team was slow to enter the game, which was exploited by the Dallas guests, where Yogi Ferrell once again represented the injured Dennis Smith in the Starting Five. Through a 12-0 run in the first quarter, they set themselves apart early, which they consumed until halftime (53:43 Dallas). Maxi Kleber, who stayed out of the field perfectly so far (12 points, 5/5 FG) and Yogi Ferrell had taken care of 25 points together.
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After the change of sides, the hosts came into play better. First it was LaMarcus Aldridge on the board and then a strong bank that made the lead to 4 points. However, the Mavs managed to create mismatches for Dirk Nowitzki against Patty Mills several times in this critical phase, resulting in 6 points within a very short time. As a result, the guests took a 9-point lead into the final section (80:71).
The Spurs didn’t let themselves be shaken off and always had mini runs. Even when a good 4 minutes before the end of the strong gluten, the pop-team didn’t get up and started a 9:0-run – the crunchtime offered a One Possession Game. Appearance Aldridge: 25 seconds before the end he went into the left post office against Kleber and scored a fadeaway to equalise. Afterwards, the Mavs did not manage to bring the ball into the field, which is why the Spurs had the last attack. Ginobili and LMA played a pick-and-roll, defending the Mavs in a devastating way. Manu thanked with a free layup for the first spurs lead of the game to the 98:96! Since the Mavs had no more downtime, only one desperate throw came out. So they lost through a late 13-0 run. Unbelievable!
The Career Night of Kleber 21 points (9/10 FG) thus failed, the same applied to Nowitzki’s good performance (19 points, 8/13 FG). On the other hand Aldridge (22 points, 14 rebounds) and Ginobili (12 points) became the winners of the match, Murray (14 points) and Davis Bertans (13 points, 7 rebounds) also had shares in the comeback victory.
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LaMarcus Aldridge. Since Pau Gasol was very tired and only 14 minutes on the floor, LMA (14 boards) did the rebound work of the Spaniard. In addition, he kept digging around in the mail and pursued his own mistakes with great energy (6 offensive rebounds). In the end, he took care of the equalization and was also involved in the game winner as a block actor.
The guards from Dallas. It is the responsibility of the ball handlers that the Mavs did not get a reasonable attack on the chain in the last four minutes. Why the ball didn’t fall into the hands of glue or Dirk, who had previously been hot, remains a huge mystery. Instead, Barea and Matthews thought it was a better idea to take wild distance throws out of the dribble.
The favourite position of Aldridge (left post) is no secret. But the spurs dosed this play well, so that Dallas could not adjust to it too much. Shortly before the end, however, the ball landed right there – and the actually good defending glue paid a lot of money against the L-train.