Spurs compete for a half but can’t keep up with Mavericks in opening night loss

The Spurs started the 2024/25 season with a lopsided loss that still left some room for optimism. The 120-109 final score doesn’t reflect how much they struggled to contain Luka Doncic’s Mavericks in the second half or how hard it was for them to score at times but it shows that they didn’t give up at any point.

It wasn’t the prettiest of starts, as the Spurs struggled to establish Wembanyama inside and the Mavericks missed open shots, but both teams had some positives to distract them from their issues. For Dallas, the silver lining was their physicality, which caused some turnovers and gave them an edge on the offensive glass. For San Antonio, it was the play of Harrison Barnes, who after a quiet preseason came out looking rejuvenated and hitting shots to allow them to grab a lead. Despite the sloppiness, it was an entertaining opening frame largely played with good pace and ball movement from both squads. Spurs fans also got to see Stephon Castle make his official debut and not look out of place guarding Luka Doncic. The Spurs might not have been executing at a high level, but were still ahead by two after a low-scoring first quarter despite few contributions from Wemby and Chris Paul.

The second frame followed a similar pattern as the first. Dallas’ physicality limited Wembanyama’s impact but one of the forwards, in this case Julian Champagnie, got hot and helped put points on the board. On the other end, San Antonio’s defense was solid enough despite some mistakes to keep the Mavericks from putting together a big run even as a couple of threes went in for the home team. Gregg Popovich gave Blake Wesley some minutes, just like he had done with Castle earlier, The level of play was low, but the game remained emotionally charged, with the Mavericks trying to impose their will as the aggressor and the Spurs refusing to fold. The stars and big names everyone tuned in to see didn’t shine, but there were enough good moments and enough tactical tweaks to make the first half entertaining. San Antonio was up two at the break.

The Mavericks are a great shooting team, so the return to normalcy in the second half wasn’t unexpected. Dallas opened the third quarter with three unanswered threes to take a lead they would never surrender. Their defense improved and led to transition opportunities and open looks from beyond the arc that fell. As the onslaught continued, it felt like a blowout was in store, but the Spurs responded. The effort increased on defense and while the offense remained limited, it was also less sloppy, limiting the fastbreak opportunities for the home team. Dallas remained in control and closed the frame well to carry an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter but had to fight for it. A comeback didn’t seem likely, but it wasn’t out of the question and that was encouraging against a quality opponent.

Unfortunately, things unraveled in the final period. It all started with an offensive foul by Jeremy Sochan that was deemed a flagrant foul. Then two major defensive breakdowns in the first couple of minutes gave the Mavs some easy buckets just as Luka Doncic was heating up. The superstar guard took over the game, destroying the Spurs with simple pick-and-rolls while San Antonio struggled mightily to score. A game that had been close for most of its duration now had Dallas up 21 at one point against an opponent that lacks firepower under ideal circumstances and even more so without Devin Vassell. Popovich emptied his bench at the halfway point in the quarter and the third stringers put together a mini run but it wasn’t enough.

Play of the game

Normally we go with a Spurs play here, but this is just absurd by Luka.

Game notes

As most opponents do, the Mavs put their center on Jeremy Sochan and parked him in the paint to help on Wembanyama. That’s not surprising. What was new was how Pop managed his rotations in the first half, having Wemby rest early and then check back in once Sochan was on the bench. It could be a good strategy to split those two to improve spacing for Wemby, but Pop didn’t do it in the second half and Wembanyama talked about how he still has some conditioning issues after a busy summer, so the early rest could simply be related to that. It’s still something to monitor going forward.
Julian Champagnie and Harrison Barnes combined for 35 points and five assists. Dallas focused its efforts on stopping Wembanyama and limiting Chris Paul’s impact as a scorer and succeeded at both but the work the two forwards did on offense kept the Spurs in it in the first half. Sochan also did his thing by cutting and playing with hustle on his way to 18 points, six rebounds and two assists while also guarding Luka Doncic. The role players did their part.
The Spurs needed someone else to step up and make up for the absence of Vassell and Keldon Johnson couldn’t do it. Johnson had a couple of nice drives but missed a couple of open threes and struggled to make his mark on the game off the bench.
Zach Collins did well in the 13 minutes he was on the floor. He hit a three and rebounded well. Tre Jones had a quiet game, logging three points and three assists in 16 minutes but didn’t turn the ball over. There was nothing particularly impressive about the performance of the backup point guard and backup center but the loss wasn’t on them.
Stephon Castle didn’t have eye-popping numbers or impressive highlights but he handled himself well on both ends in his debut. It’s early but it’s not hard to see him earn more minutes if he gets the opportunity.
Klay Thompson shined on offense in his Mavericks debut, finishing with six made threes and 22 points. Defensively he’s going to struggle but he makes Dallas even harder to guard. Whenever the Spurs made a mistake, he made them pay.