A Wemby-less Spurs fall flat in second half in loss to Mavs

In what shouldn't be too much of a shock, the San Antonio Spurs fell to the Dallas Mavericks 110-93 on a second night of a back-to-back in a game where their three most talented players were all missing. Jeremy Sochan was still on the sidelines healing from Thumb surgery a few weeks ago while Devin Vassell who just recently returned from offseason surgery sat out as the team manages his minutes and workload until he gets back to full fitness. Finally, Victor Wembanyama was ruled out for the contest after getting nicked up towards the end of the Lakers game on Friday night. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like the injury will keep Wemby out long as Mitch Johnson called it "day-to-day" which means it is likely we will see the Alien back in action on Monday night against the Thunder.

The end score wasn't pretty but the Silver & Black did play a solid opening 24 minutes. That was after missing eight of their first nine shots as they settled for jumper after jumper. To get them going without their three best players the Spurs turned to their rookie Stephon Castle to provide a spark, to which he obliged. Castle who is starting to come into his own as an NBA player and has played extremely well since entering the starting lineup was agurably the best player on the court for either team in the first 12 minutes of play. The #4 overall pick was shooting with confidence and getting his teammates involved with easy looks inside the paint. Castle was a big reason as to why San Antonio went into the first quarter break up, 28-23.

Julian Champagnie who plays his role of a 3-and-D wing well on a night-to-night basis was given more freedom against Dallas with a number of offensive touches available with players out. Champagnie responded to the added responsibility by playing free and knocking down a number of shots while attacking off the dribble and getting to the line for some easy points. Without Wemby the Mavs took advantage of the size mismatch and dominated the game in the paint with their 1-2 big man tandem of Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford. For much of the game it felt like a dunk contest for those two with them also grabbing a number of offensive boards to keep possessions alive for their team. One reason the Spurs only went into the half-time interval down four was they were taking way better care of the ball than the Mavs. An issue which on most nights impedes the Spurs more than their opposition.

The game changed in the second-half with Dallas taking command and using their talent mismatch to run away with the contest. It started almost immediately in the third quarter when the home team went on an 11-2 run. San Antonio did respond after a timeout with their own 7-0 scoring run but that would end up being the last punch the Spurs threw. From then on the Mavs continued to take advantage of the size mismatch in the paint while Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic took control of the game on the perimeter. By early on in the fourth quarter Mitch Johnson emptied his bench and waved the white flag to signal a second consecutive Spurs loss, and a second loss to their Texas rivals within the first month of the season.

Play of the game In his first rotation minutes of the season, Charles Bassey made a statement with this emphatic block:

Game notesWelcome Back, Tre Jones: After a twelve game absence, Tre Jones returned for his second game of the season, coincidentally both games have been against the Mavs in Dallas as Tre got hurt in the season opening defeat. You could see early on the Tre we all know, pushing the ball after misses, finding the open man and getting deep inside the paint. You also saw a Tre that has been out for a number of weeks and still needing to find his rhythm. In the end Jones finished with three points, four assists, three rebounds and a turnover in nineteen minutes of play.Mitch Johnson's Rotations: With a number of players out, Mitch Johnson mixed up his rotations for this game. In the starting unit he predictably started Zach Collins in place of Wemby but it was in bench rotation where he really shook it up. Instead of playing Sandro Mamukelashvilli at the backup five which he has done a few times this season, Mitch went with the bigger body of Charles Bassey to battle it out with the Mavs centers. Mamu did play but it was mostly at the four position next to one of Bassey or Collins. The interim head coach also opted to go with Blake Wesley next to Tre Jones instead of the more offensively talent guard, Malaki Branham. This move was a bit of a head scratcher to me as with the Spurs missing most of their offensive punch with Wemby, Dev and Sochan all unavailable you would have though a player like Malaki would have made more sense in this game. Especially considering his ability to create a shot for himself and also due to the fact he was shooting 52-50-83 to start this season. Next game: vs. Thunder on Tuesday The Spurs will now head back to the Frost Bank Center to meet the Oklahoma City Thunder in their second NBA Cup group game.