Spurs-Mavericks Preview

By JUSTIN EINHORN
Posted Jan 24 2013 5:13PM

As easily as the San Antonio Spurs have dominated the Dallas Mavericks this season, there's reason to believe this matchup could be different.

Even though the Spurs are rolling, the Mavericks have gotten hot themselves and they won't see Tim Duncan or Gregg Popovich on the opposing bench when these rivals square off Friday night in Dallas.

San Antonio (34-11) is riding the league's longest current winning streak at six games after defeating New Orleans 106-102 on Wednesday despite missing Popovich and Duncan.

Neither one made the trip to Dallas because Popovich remains ill and Duncan is bothered by a sore left knee.

Assistant Mike Budenholzer will fill in again for Popovich, whose absence Wednesday certainly came as a surprise after he waited until two hours before tipoff to say he would miss the game.

"Pop's a warrior," veteran Stephen Jackson said. "Pop might be the only person who's tougher than me. I've never known him not to be here."

Jackson had 15 points - his total from the previous four games combined - to help fill the void left by Duncan, who scored 24 in each of his last two games. Duncan will get another day off Friday to rest his knee, and fellow starter Kawhi Leonard (patella tendon) also could miss a second straight game.

Another potential factor favoring the Mavericks (18-24) is they've had four days off since last playing. San Antonio has had two games in that span.

"Four days off in the middle of the season usually doesn't happen much, so you gotta make the best of it," said Dirk Nowitzki, who has played 15 games since returning from knee surgery. "We've gotta mix some rest with some work, looks like we're mixing more work than rest."

Nowitzki's season debut came at San Antonio on Dec. 23 in a 129-91 defeat as the Spurs set a franchise record with 20 3-pointers. He was held to eight points that day and in Dallas a week later when the Spurs rolled to a 111-86 victory.

Those two defeats were part of a 1-10 slump that dropped the Mavericks 10 games below .500. They've since won five of six, averaging 110.7 points, and the only loss came in overtime to league-best Oklahoma City.

Unselfishness has keyed the resurgence. At least six players have scored in double figures in each of the past five games as Dallas has averaged 26.8 assists and 10.6 turnovers.

Vince Carter had a season-high six of the Mavs' 29 assists in a 111-105 win at Orlando on Sunday, two nights after scoring a season-best 29 points against the Thunder.

"Now that the adjustment has been made (to Nowitzki), we're really starting to jell it together and I think that's the biggest thing more than anything," said Carter, who turns 36 on Saturday. "I think when you see how he moves the ball and he's very unselfish, everyone else kind of catches on and understands that's the way the offense is played."

One player who could be a bigger part of the Spurs offense Friday is Manu Ginobili, who scored 20 last month at Dallas and returned Wednesday after missing four games with a strained hamstring. He scored five of his nine points in the fourth quarter and played 17 minutes.

"He looked good," said Tony Parker, who had 24 points and a season-best 13 assists. "He didn't go full speed. I think he was trying it (hamstring) and testing it. In Dallas, he's going to get more aggressive."

Parker gets cut, returns to lead Spurs past Mavs

By SCHUYLER DIXON
Posted Jan 26 2013 12:07AM

DALLAS (AP) Tony Parker writhed in pain alone under the basket, his hand covering the same left eye that was seriously injured last summer when the San Antonio guard was a bystander in a bottle-throwing melee at a nightclub.

He stayed down the entire 20 seconds of a Dallas possession on the other end because no foul was called, and he had to be pulled away from the referees as he was led to the bench.

It turned out to be a cut above the eye that required three stitches, and Parker came back after missing a quarter to lead seven Spurs in double figures with 23 points in a 113-107 victory against the Mavericks on Friday night, San Antonio's seventh straight win.

"I was a little bit mad, obviously, but I just told the doc to hurry up and get the stitches in and get back on the court," Parker said.

The Spurs star said he didn't flash back to the June incident at a New York club, when tiny shards of glass embedded in his cornea and doctors told him he was millimeters away from losing the eye.

"Because it wasn't my eye," he said.

San Antonio didn't need Tim Duncan, who stayed home with a sore right knee, because DeJuan Blair had a season-high 22 points, including 17 on 8-of-9 shooting in the first half. Tiago Splitter, normally paired with Duncan in the starting lineup, had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

"I think this group has shown that ability to if somebody is down then somebody else is going to step up," said Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer, filling in - and winning - a second time for the ill Gregg Popovich. "They all have a lot of confidence, and they know we have confidence in them."

The Mavericks, who trailed by double digits for large portions of the game after two blowout losses to San Antonio, made it interesting only after Parker left with 1:02 remaining. Dallas cut a 15-point deficit to four with mostly reserves on the floor in the final minute, but Nando De Colo hit two free throws with 2.2 seconds left to end the threat.

Rodrigue Beaubois led the Mavericks with a season-high 19 points.

Parker's head collided with Elton Brand's arm on a drive early in the first quarter, and he angrily complained about drawing blood without getting the call.

The Spurs, who also played most of the game with Manu Ginobili on the bench, went up by 11 early without Parker. Blair, Boris Diaw and Gary Neal had eight points apiece, and Neal had a four-point play when he hit a 3-pointer from the wing as he was getting bumped by Darren Collison.

"When the big dogs go out, you've got to step up," Blair said. "You can't put your head down and worry about what could have happened."

Blair repeatedly got uncontested shots at the rim off pick-and-rolls and hit a couple of nifty running bank shots, including one when Neal jumped and couldn't find anywhere to throw the ball before sliding a bounce pass to Blair just before coming back down.

"It's hard to overcome layup after layup, and that's what happened," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said.

When he returned early in the second quarter, Parker hit three straight shots and finished the half with 10 points. For the game, he added 10 assists and four rebounds.

The Spurs took control with a 21-6 run in the third quarter, capped by a Dallas turnover when a pass from Collison went through O.J. Mayo's legs and led to a fast break that ended with Diaw throwing a behind-the-back bounce pass to Splitter for a layup and a 74-49 San Antonio lead.

"They execute so well on offense and they make you pay and they do a good job of exploiting however your defense plays," said Vince Carter, who had 17 points for Dallas. "We just didn't adjust well enough tonight."

Dirk Nowitzki, who debuted a month ago in a 38-point loss at San Antonio after a 27-game absence following right knee surgery, had 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Mayo, the team's biggest 3-point threat, finished with 14 but missed all four from long range.

The Mavericks got within 10 with 4 minutes left during a strange sequence that resulted in a technical foul against Carlisle even though officials reversed the call that caused him to complain.

Vince Carter tipped in a miss, but Courtney Kirkland called goaltending. Carlisle argued and was given the technical by Eli Roe. The Spurs still got the free throw even after Carter was awarded the basket when Kirkland consulted with the crew. The Dallas deficit was briefly 10 before Neal hit the free throw and Parker drove for the back-to-back layups and a 105-90 lead.

NOTES: Budenholzer said there weren't any health problems with Ginobili, who didn't play in the second half and was scoreless on 0-of-2 shooting in just 8 minutes. "We just decided to keep him out and keep him healthy," Budenholzer said. ... Brand played in his 899th game and made his 14th start for Dallas. His last start was Dec. 6 at Phoenix.

Notebook: Spurs 113, Mavericks 107

Dave Ivey, for NBA.com
Posted Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:35 PM - Updated Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:35 PM

THE FACTS: Despite the absences of coach Gregg Popovich and injured All-Star Tim Duncan and a scary incident involving Tony Parker, the San Antonio Spurs dumped the Dallas Mavericks for the third straight time this season and extended their winning streak to seven with a 113-107 victory Friday at the American Airlines Center.

Popovich (illness) and Duncan (sore left knee) did not travel to Dallas and the Spurs (35-11) nearly lost another All-Star when Parker suffered two cuts around his left eye while spinning through the lane early in the first quarter. That's the same eye that was injured in a New York City nightclub brawl back in June. He received three stitches and returned to the game midway through the second quarter, finishing with 23 points and 10 assists.

DeJuan Blair added a season-high 22 points on 10-for-13 shooting. Gary Neal scored 18 and Tiago Splitter had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Seven Spurs scored in double figures.

The Mavericks (18-25) have dropped eight of their last 10 meetings with the Spurs, including lopsided losses earlier this season by 38- and 25-point margins. They trailed by as many as 26 points in this one before using an 11-0 run in the final minute to make it look close. Playing on four days of rest, Dallas looked rusty in the first half, shooting 37 percent overall and just 1-for-7 from deep. Rodrigue Beaubois led the Mavs with a season-high 19 points off the bench. Vince Carter added 17 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 15.

QUOTABLE: "When we play without [Duncan], we need everybody. Everybody has to step up. Tony came back and stepped up when we needed him. I was ready. We were all ready and it was great. It was a pretty fun game."
-- Blair.

QUOTABLE II: "I was a little bit mad obviously. I told the doctor to hurry up and get the stitches to get back on the court."
-- Parker.

THE STAT: The Spurs are 17-1 this season when Parker dishes at least eight assists.

TURNING POINT: San Antonio, which never trailed after being down 4-3, blew it open at the start of the second half. The Mavericks turned it over five times within the first five minutes of the third quarter as the Spurs used a 20-6 surge to take a commanding 74-59 lead. Two 3-pointers by Danny Green and another by Kawhi Leonard and a three-point play by Splitter did most of the damage.

QUOTABLE III: "They have our number."
-- Mavericks forward Shawn Marion.

QUOTABLE IV: "They played at a higher level than we did. We had some stretches where I thought we were doing OK. Our shot making really wasn't there and that was a problem. The run to start the third quarter was decisive. That put us in a huge hole."
-- Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle.

HOT: Blair scored 17 points on 8-for-9 shooting in the first half.

NOT: At the free-throw line with 1:03 left in the first quarter, Blair shot an airball on the first attempt and barely grazed the front iron on the second.

GOOD MOVE: Carlisle replaced Chris Kaman with Elton Brand in the starting lineup. It was Brand's 14th start of the season and the 844th of his career, but his first since Dec. 6. His game-high 13 rebounds helped the Mavericks finish with a 47-46 edge on the boards. Brand added eight points and two blocked shots. Kaman contributed eight points and three rebounds off the bench.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: After missing Wednesday's win against New Orleans with a lacerated left knee, Leonard returned with 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals. It was his sixth game this season with three or more thefts, with San Antonio winning all six contests.

ROOKIE WATCH: Former Washington State center Aron Baynes, a 6-foot-10, 260-pound native of New Zealand, made his NBA debut for San Antonio. He played the final 42 seconds and was charged with a turnover. Baynes has played professionally in Slovenia, Lithuania and Greece since the end of his collegiate career (2005-09).

NOTABLE: The Mavericks have scored 100-plus points in seven straight games. ... Neal had a four-point play in the first quarter. ... Carter celebrates his 36th birthday on Saturday. ... Beaubois scored more points than he did in the entire month of December (15). ... The Spurs are 21-2 when they have more steals than their opponent. ... The Mavericks used their 16th different starting lineup this season. They only had 13 combinations all last season. ... Dallas shot a season-high 94.4 percent (17-for-18) at the line.

UP NEXT: For the Mavericks, Sunday vs. Phoenix, Tuesday @ Portland, Thursday @ Golden State. For the Spurs, Saturday vs. Phoenix, Wednesday vs. Charlotte, Feb. 2 vs. Washington.

• Spurs: Duncan, Joseph
• Mavericks: Cunningham, Jones

• Spurs: Green
• Mavericks: Carlisle

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
• Officials: #15 Bennett Salvatore, #44 Eli Roe, #61 Courtney Kirkland
• Attendance: 19884
• Duration: 2:29