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Mavs Notebook: 6 Takeaways From Loss To Spurs, Trip To Miami Heat
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- Mavs Notebook: 6 Takeaways From Loss To Spurs, Trip To Miami Heat
(Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images)
Our Dallas Mavs Notebook as we move from a home loss to a powerhouse to a Monday night roadie against potential powerhouse the Miami Heat ...
Sergio de Larrea went scoreless in his first two NBA games. On Saturday night, the rookie guard scored 21 points off the bench for the Dallas Mavericks in a 122-106 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at American Airlines Center.
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It was the Mavericks' home opener. A sellout crowd of 19,555 watched Dallas (1-2) play the second night of a back-to-back without Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving.
Flagg is listed with a left shoulder sprain . He left Friday's 121-105 win over the Indiana Pacers in the final minute of the second quarter after Aaron Nesmith fouled him on what looked like a breakaway dunk, and Nesmith was called for a flagrant foul. Irving sat for left knee injury management.
San Antonio (1-2), also on the second night of a back-to-back, won for the first time this season. Victor Wembanyama had 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Dylan Harper scored 22.
Our Six Takeaways ...
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1. Sergio de Larrea Took Advantage of His Opportunity
De Larrea shot 9-of-15 from the field and 3-of-4 from 3-point range in 33:02. He added 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers.
All 21 of his points came in the first three quarters, including 11 in the second on 5-of-6 shooting. He missed both of his shots in the fourth.
In Dallas' opening loss at the Houston Rockets on Wednesday and again at Indiana, he did not score. The 21 points surprised him.
"Yes, I am, yes, I am, for sure," de Larrea said. "It's my first time scoring this point. The last two games it was different. But as I said, I think the — the team has looked for me as I look for them in all the situations, or as they look for other players."
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"That's what I say. That's the special that we have in this team," de Larrea continued. "We are looking for the other."
Only P.J. Washington, at 36:09, played more minutes for Dallas. Washington had 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and the Mavericks' bench outscored their starters 56-50.
Mavericks coach Dusty May said the rookie's on-ball defense got better and that he was chasing down long rebounds.
"That's the best scenario for us, is to have multiple handlers [in] lineups," May said. "There's give and take. You match size, you go small, and it seemed like tonight every time we tried to go small against the bigger lineups, they just countered and went small with us."
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"Obviously this was a great opportunity for him," May added. "He didn't get the same last night in Indiana for obvious reasons, with Coop and Kyrie getting those minutes, but he's certainly earned more and more trust, and he's played like this pretty consistently."
"When you factor in summer league, the exhibition play, and in practice, he has a great mindset every day," May noted. "So 33 minutes against a team like San Antonio, that's a good night for [de Larrea]."
Dallas acquired de Larrea, the No. 25 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, in a draft-night trade with the New York Knicks that sent out the No. 30 pick, Koa Peat, and two second-round picks. Days later, he helped Valencia Basket beat FC Barcelona for the Liga ACB title. He signed with the Mavericks on July 3.
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2. Turnovers Gave San Antonio Too Many Chances
Dallas committed 21 turnovers, and San Antonio scored 26 points off them. The Mavericks scored 12 points off the Spurs' 12 turnovers.
Stephon Castle finished with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 of San Antonio's 12 steals. De Larrea and Morez Johnson Jr. had 4 turnovers apiece.
May said San Antonio's ball pressure was the difference, and that the loose balls the Spurs converted in the open floor fed more of it.
"When you look out there, there's not a lot of ways to alleviate pressure against San Antonio, 'cause even their guys [that aren't] Castle are still pretty good defenders," May explained. "But we have to do a better job of finding the guys that can bring it up and break pressure."
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"We've just got to have a little bit tighter plan," May continued. "But some of them, I thought also they were — I don't want to say unforced, but we were a little bit sped up after rebounds, after breaks, things like that. And like most teams in this league, especially the really good ones like San Antonio, they make you pay for those mistakes, and they did tonight."
After halftime, Dallas committed 13 turnovers, 8 of them in the third quarter. The Mavericks had 3 shot-clock violations, 2 of them in the third.
For Daniel Gafford, the pressure showed up in the dribble handoffs.
"I think they just crawled up in our airspace," Gafford said. "A lot of guys probably were uncomfortable in certain situations. But crawled up into our airspace and just kind of pretty much knocked a lot of DHOs out of place. And really just, it was a real physical game, so."
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3. Second-Chance Points Hurt Dallas
San Antonio had 15 offensive rebounds and scored 25 second-chance points. Dallas had 8 offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance points.
Of the 13 Spurs who played, 9 had an offensive rebound. Keldon Johnson had 4 in 26:05 off the bench, and Tarris Reed Jr. had 2 in 6:39, all of it in the fourth quarter.
San Antonio held a 64-62 edge in points in the paint.
May said Dallas found a rhythm for a stretch by changing defenses, zone included, and that San Antonio did not look like itself.
"They go with force," May said. "And then obviously, [it] is tough to block out, just the size [and] athleticism. But I thought, at one point, we kinda had — I felt like we kinda had a lot of rhythm, the change in defenses in the zone and things like that. They just didn't look themselves."
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"I feel like the offensive rebounds ignited their run, and that's the trade-off in the zone," May detailed. "It's tough to have blockout responsibilities, and it seemed like, off just memory of their runs, they started playing better whenever Keldon, those guys, got on the glass and got some second shots and got easy baskets."
4. Daniel Gafford Battled Victor Wembanyama
Gafford had 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists in 23:20. By halftime, he had 8 points, 6 rebounds, and all 3 of his steals.
Wembanyama blocked 4 shots. One of them was Gafford's turnaround hook with 9:35 left in the third quarter, a minute after Gafford blocked a Wembanyama fast-break layup.
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Gafford said he put one dunk right into both of Wembanyama's hands and thought Wembanyama would take it away. He finished it anyway.
"He's 7-foot-4," Gafford explained. "I'm going against a lot of tall guys in my lifetime, but it's like going against somebody like him, it's like, man, you got to really be locked in and paying attention to detail and really ready to kind of go through his chest when it comes to playing against him, because he is tall, and it's like he holds his hands up, it's right there at the rim."
"Trust me, he got one of mine tonight, and I never had my shot blocked like that before," Gafford continued.
All 3 of Gafford's turnovers came after halftime. Wembanyama finished 9-of-18 from the field and plus-32 in 28:55.
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5. Dallas Showed It Could Fight Back
San Antonio led 77-63 with 8:17 left in the third quarter after Wembanyama finished an alley-oop from De'Aaron Fox.
Dallas outscored the Spurs 22-7 over the next 6:16 and went ahead 85-84 on a de Larrea floater with 2:01 remaining.
De Larrea and Marcus Sasser each went 2-of-2 from 3-point range during the run. Sasser finished the quarter with 6 points and 3 assists, and he had 12 points and 5 assists for the game.
Zaccharie Risacher scored 9 of his 11 points in the third on 4-of-5 shooting. Morez Johnson Jr., the No. 9 pick in the 2026 draft, was plus-11 in 7:05 of the quarter.
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With 1:28 left, Risacher's step-back jumper put Dallas ahead 87-86. It was the Mavericks' last lead.
San Antonio answered with 3-pointers from Castle and Wembanyama, and Gafford's tip-in left Dallas behind 92-89 after three quarters.
The Mavericks scored 14 fast-break points in the quarter and finished with 28 to San Antonio's 15.
The game had 14 lead changes and 7 ties.
6. The Mavericks Ran Out of Gas in the Fourth
San Antonio outscored Dallas 30-17 in the fourth. The Mavericks shot 7-of-22 in the quarter and did not attempt a free throw.
Gafford's layup off a Walter Clayton Jr. pass cut the deficit to 92-91 with 11:32 left.
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San Antonio scored the next 11 points on 3-pointers from Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, and Harper and an alley-oop layup by Reed. Dallas went 2:45 without a point before Clayton hit a 3-pointer at 8:47.
A Harper dunk made it 119-96 with 3:13 left, the Spurs' largest lead.
Harper had 8 of his 22 points in the fourth and finished 9-of-18 from the field. Champagnie scored 8 of his 12 in the quarter and blocked 3 shots, all of them in the fourth. Fox had 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 9 assists.
May said Dallas got static and stagnant in the second half, though he put that as much on San Antonio as on his own team.
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"It's obviously very difficult what these guys — San Antonio just had a gut-wrenching defeat last night that we were able to — we were watching as we went into the air," May said. "And so they played, we were playing in Indianapolis last night, and so it's the guys that can get in here and do it again day after day."
"And so I was proud of our guys' effort," May added. "We as a staff thought we competed at a high level. We made it very, very interesting and ultimately just felt like we probably ran out of gas late."
Dallas plays Monday at the Miami Heat at 6:30 p.m. CT on NBA TV.
The Mavericks return home Wednesday to face the Oklahoma City Thunder at 8:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.
