For 24 minutes, it didn\u2019t look like a blowout. Inside the Frost Bank Center, the San Antonio Spurs found themselves in a game that felt tighter than expected. The Dallas Mavericks weren\u2019t backing down, trading shots, matching energy, and riding a red-hot first half from Cooper Flagg that kept the crowd uneasy.<\/p>\n
San Antonio hadn\u2019t separated\u2014not yet. But Victor Wembanyama was determined to make sure his team would not go down, not on this night. Wembanyama was doing what he always does, gliding through defenders, scoring with ease, impacting every inch of the floor. Still, Dallas lingered. Every Spurs push met with a Mavericks answer. Every hint of a run dissolved into another close stretch.<\/p>\n
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At halftime, the message wasn\u2019t about urgency. It was about control. And when the Spurs came back out, everything changed.<\/p>\n
The third quarter didn\u2019t begin with a roar\u2014it built into one. De\u2019Aaron Fox took command first, slowing the game just enough to speed it up where it mattered. He dissected Dallas\u2019 defense possession by possession, threading passes, collapsing the lane, and making the right read every time. The offense started to breathe.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s by far the most capable on our team of understanding the pulse of the game,\u201d Spurs Head Coach Mitch Johnson said of Fox. \u201cI think we\u2019ve seen that from him time and time again and that\u2019s exactly what we need as the playoffs arrive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then it started to sprint. Wembanyama followed, turning control into chaos\u2014for Dallas. He scored inside, stretched the floor, cleaned the glass, and erased any thought of resistance. What had been a game suddenly felt like a showcase.<\/p>\n
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And the Mavericks? They cracked.<\/p>\n
Shots stopped falling. Possessions grew frantic. A team that couldn\u2019t miss in the first half suddenly couldn\u2019t buy a basket. Meanwhile, the Spurs kept coming: wave after wave, bucket after bucket. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, the tension was gone. So was the doubt. San Antonio didn\u2019t just pull away\u2014they buried the game.<\/p>\n
The final score, 139-120, told part of the story. But it didn\u2019t capture the shift\u2014the moment when a competitive night turned into a statement. Wembanyama finished with 40 points, 13 rebounds, and five assists, another effortless display of dominance that somehow continues to feel routine. Fox added 18 points and 10 assists, quietly orchestrating the turning point that broke the game open.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels good,\u201d Wembanyama said of meeting the 65-game requirements for post season awards. \u201cIt feels like a box that\u2019s checked. It was a season where a lot of things happened and this is a good conclusion for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Around them, the Spurs played like a team that knows exactly who it is. Shots fell. The ball moved. The pace never dipped. What looked ordinary in the first half became overwhelming in the second.<\/p>\n
Dallas had its moments, despite the loss. Cooper Flagg\u2019s 33 points made sure of that. But moments weren\u2019t enough. Not against a team that can shift gears like this.<\/p>\n
Because that\u2019s what this game became. A reminder.<\/p>\n
The Spurs don\u2019t need four quarters to beat you. Sometimes, all it takes is one. And when they find it, there\u2019s not much anyone can do to stop what comes next.<\/p>\n
Game Notes<\/p>\n
Mitch Johnson said Wembanayama may miss Sunday\u2019s game against Denver due to rest, but conversations will happen before. Meanwhile, Wemby says he would not be surprised if that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n
Carter Bryant is playing with such confidence as the regular season closes and the postseason set to begin. That makes a much more dangerous Spurs team going into the first round. The rookie finished with 12 points off the bench, connecting on all three of his attempts from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For 24 minutes, it didn\u2019t look like a blowout. Inside the Frost Bank Center, the San Antonio Spurs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,978,225,686,149,4057,1314,301,7779,166,3361,6,969,474,2594,1928,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-708065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-carter-bryant","10":"tag-cooper-flagg","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-mavericks","13":"tag-dallasmavericks","14":"tag-deaaron-fox","15":"tag-denver","16":"tag-frost-bank-center","17":"tag-mavericks","18":"tag-mitch-johnson","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-san-antonio","21":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","22":"tag-the-spurs","23":"tag-tx","24":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116385448364086465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}