It’s a sports cliché that one team wants it more, but it’s really hard to describe how the Mavericks played tonight without invoking that old saw. The Spurs had their moments, with solid performances from Stephon Castle, Keldon Johnson, and Harrison Barnes, but the Mavericks, who could have come into this game feeling sorry for themselves, played their asses off and got a great performances from Spencer Dinwiddie and Klay Thompson as they just outworked the Spurs and pulled off the upset over the Spurs in their home arena. De’Aaron Fox had an off game, capped with a costly turnover in the final minute, and he might be looking forward to having his messed up shooting hand worked on next week as the Spurs season trends towards oblivion.

The game was close throughout, and the biggest problem the Spurs had was their inability to get stops when they needed them. A furious comeback by the Silver and Black made it a single score game with under a minute left, but they couldn’t close out the game as the Mavs hit their free throws and took a 133-129 win. Some of those missed free throws earlier in the game might have been handy in the final minute. There will be plenty of things for Coach Johnson and the team to work on, and these teams will be right back at it in a few days, and one thing to hope for is that the team comes out with a little more purpose on Wednesday night and can split the series.

Observations

• Dante Exum has been in the league 8 years? He’s been the next great thing that never was forever, it seems.
• Vassell had really hot start with 11 straight points for the good guys, and didn’t seem to be bothered by Klay Thompson’s reputation as an elite defender.
• Blake Wesley got some early minutes in the first quarter as Mitch Johnson seems to be loosening up his rotations late in the season. He’s been playing well whenever he gets into the game lately and looks like he might be earning a bigger role.
• Who knew that Max Christie was going to be the best performer that Dallas got from the Doncic trade so far?
• The Mavericks had no answer for Keldon Johnson. He usually finds a crowd when he takes the ball to the hoop, and with the decimated Mavs, it was a very small crowd that didn’t slow him down much.
• The Spurs led 34-28 after the first quarter, and it could have been more, except for a couple of missed free throws. Castle is really good at getting to the line, but he’s not consistent enough hitting them.
• Sean Elliot messed with with Mamu’s mojo by telling him that he always made his first shot in the game which caused Sandro to miss his first four attempts. He finally got his first points on a free throw late in the third quarter, and finally broke the announcers curse with 5 seconds left in the third with a drive to the basket.
• One of the refs had to leave the game early with a leg issue, meaning that the two remaining officials had to make the calls. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t improve the quality of the officiating, as they missed an easy call on an offensive foul on Martin, and compounded the problem by upholding the call on review after Coach Johnson challenged it. This was problematic as the Spurs were unable to challenge a few calls late in the game that were costly to the Silver and Black.
• Dinwiddie got called for a tech for calling ‘AND ONE’ after a bucket, which was a bit of a surprise, since that happens on almost every shot in the NBA. He actually got his ‘and one’ on the time he drove to the hoop, so maybe the tech was worth it.
• The frenetic effort of the short-handed Mavs paid off in the second quarter as they outscored the Spurs in the frame and went into the locker room trailing 60-63 at the half.
• Dallas continued to be the fresher team early in the third as Klay Thompson took off and the Mavs took the lead. The bench group with Keldon stopped the bleeding.
• Devin Vassell took a scary fall halfway through the third, and it looked bad as he laid on the floor for about a minute while game action continued around him. Surprisingly, he popped back up and stayed in the game after a timeout, apparently just had his breath knocked out.
• The Mavericks just played harder than the Spurs in the third quarter and tied it up at 101 each with a quarter to go. Giving up over 100 in three quarters against this team might be a problem with the Spurs defense, which has been horrible since the All Star break.
• Dallas outplayed the Spurs in the final quarter as the Silver and Black couldn’t match their intensity. This was a very winnable game, but the Spurs just didn’t make enough plays to make it happen.

Both teams will be back in action at 7:00 PM on Wednesday for a rematch in the Frost Bank Center, on FanDuel Sports Network.