The San Antonio Spurs (36-6) defeated the Dallas Mavericks (23-19) 112-83 on Sunday.
San Antonio has been flying slightly under the radar all season due to the remarkable success of the Golden State Warriors in their very same conference. However, the gap between the two teams continues to close, with the Warriors beginning to amass a few losses and the Spurs upping their already impressive level of play even further. With Sunday’s dominating win, San Antonio is now 24-0 at home, and have a franchise-record 11 victories by a margin of 25 points or greater. They suffocated Dallas over the last three quarters, outscoring them by a margin of 98-67 over that span. Additionally, they held the visitors to a mediocre 35.8 shooting percentage from the field, and an abysmal 26.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Tellingly, the high score for Dallas on the night was a modest 15 points, and came from a bench player, Dwight Powell. The reserve forward added a pair of rebounds and a block to his stat line. Wesley Matthews paced the starters with 12 points, and supplemented it with a rebound and an assist. Deron Williams produced eight points, five rebounds and three assists. Chandler Parsons and Zaza Pachulia could only contribute a pair of five-point efforts, with the former also hauling in four boards, an assist and a pair of steals, and the latter pitching with seven rebounds, an assist and a steal. Dirk Nowitzki rounded out a forgettable night for the starting five with his worst performance of the season, a four-point, five-rebound, three-assist effort that featured a 2-for-10 tally from the floor.
The Mavericks fell to 23-19 and are currently tied for second place with Memphis in the Western Conference’s Southwest Division. They remain home to face the Boston Celtics on Monday.
San Antonio was led by LaMarcus Aldridge’s 23 points, which he complemented with seven rebounds, an assist and a block. Kawhi Leonard was next in line with 15 points, four rebounds, an assist and a pair of steals. With the comfortable lead, the rest of the starters were able to play an abbreviated amount of minutes. However, Tony Parker didn’t exit the game by choice, as lingering hip soreness sent him to the bench after 25 minutes on the court. The veteran point guard managed only two points, but did dish out seven assists, five rebounds and two steals during his time on the floor. Boris Diaw paced the Spurs bench with 16 points, three assists, three rebounds and a steal over a highly efficient 16 minutes. Rookie shooting guard Jonathon Simmons was also impressive in a reserve role, tallying 14 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal over 15 minutes.
The Spurs improved to 36-6 and remain atop the Western Conference’s Southwest Division. They are off until Thursday, when they square off against the Suns in Phoenix.
