Marco Belinelli leads Spurs over Mavs, 105-101.
Bench fuels second-half comeback, scoring 30 of S.A.’s final 44 points
DALLAS — The Spurs entered Wednesday’s game with the Mavericks optimistic that Rudy Gay’s return would help them get back on track after dropping two straight games for the first time since early December.
“I’m pretty sure we will get back to where we left off,” DeMar DeRozan said of the impact the team’s thirdleading scorer would have on the sagging team.
Gay did indeed return after missing five games in a row with a sprained left wrist. Same goes for Marco Belinelli, who returned after a one-game absence with a hyperextended knee suffered while trying to defend a Russell Westbrook crossover last week.
But things did not go as planned at the American Airlines Center. At least early on.
The Spurs overcame a 19-point deficit to defeat the Mavericks 105-101 in a game that featured a clutch 3-point shot by a European player not named Luka Doncic.
Taking a pass from DeRozan, Davis Bertans drilled a 3-pointer with 1:40 left to give the Spurs the lead for good and overcome a 25-point scoring night by rookie sensation Doncic.
“I went to the open spot ... and DeMar passed me the ball,” Bertans said. “I didn’t think about it. You just have to make those.”
Bertans wasn’t the only reserve who came up big. The Spurs’ bench scored 30 of the team’s final 44 points, helping turn a 69-61 deficit into a four-point win.
Outscored 35-20 in the first quarter, the Spurs (26-20) fell into the 19-
point hole in the second thanks to the deadly combination of poor shooting and slow-footed defense.
“Thankfully NBA games are 48 minutes,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We spotted them 12 minutes and didn’t really compete, followed them around, and I thought the second, third and fourth quarters, we competed. That was the big difference in the game for us.
“They are a fine team, and they jumped on us. I’m just proud of our guys for hanging in there and not succumbing to a really good quarter by Dallas. It was a very good win for us.”
The Spurs gained some breathing room in the fourth quarter when DeRozan either assisted on or scored six straight buckets. After sinking back-to-back jumpers, he set up LaMarcus Aldridge for an inside bucket to give them a 96-90 lead with 5:34 left.
“We gave him the ball and he delivered,” Popovich said of DeRozan. “He’s such an unselfish player that sometimes he forgets what he can get done on his own or in pick and rolls, that sort of thing. I’m glad it was in his hands to take care of that.”
DeRozan continued to struggle with his shooting, missing 7 of 13 in scoring 14 points, but he finished with nine assists.
“He was aggressive, going to the rim, and then if he didn’t have anything himself, he would find someone who was open,” Bertans said. “That’s what he’s been doing most of the time, making the game easier for everybody else.”
The Spurs increased the lead to five points on an Aldridge tipin of a reverse layup attempt by DeRozan. After Wesley Matthews sank a 3, DeRozan answered with
a jumper.
Belinelli’s two free throws with 11.9 seconds left clinched the win.
The Spurs finished with six double-digit scorers, led by Belinelli’s 17 off the bench. Gay, DeRozan and Patty Mills each scored 14, while Bryn Forbes and Bertans added 12.
Guarded well at times by Derrick White and Mills, Doncic missed 11 of 21 shots.
“They did as well as they can,” Popovich said. “The young man is phenomenal, does a great job. Such great pace, demeanor, skill, he’s got the whole package. He got away from us here and there, but just in general it was the team competitiveness that got it done for us.”
Doncic’s finest moment came when he sank a 32-foot 3-pointer on a designed play with the shot clock winding down in the third quarter.
“He has a pace about him that is never frantic,” Popovich said. “He’s calm in everything that he does. He understands spatial relationships and where everybody is on the court, what’s needed at
the time, and he’s got courage. He’ll take the big shots and do what needs to be done to try to win. And he’s got the respect of his teammates.
“That’s pretty big for a rookie to do as quickly as he did. All of that makes him one hell of a basketball player and person.”
But a steal-and-score by Mills sparked a 13-7 closing run that trimmed the Mavericks’ lead to 56-45 at halftime. Then they pulled within four points midway through the third quarter with a 28-13 run stretching over the halves.
“He was the one guy that started us being more competitive,” Popovich said. “He got in passing lanes. He was the first guy that wasn’t just following them around. He got back to (playing) defense and with the physicality, so he started it for us.”
The Mavs played without ill second-year guard Dennis Smith. It was the fourth straight game he has missed while rumors swirl that he’s on the trading block.