The Spurs finally have their first win. Now comes the work of making the effort that secured it more consistent.
Victor Wembanyama finished with 23 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, and Dylan Harper scored 22 as San Antonio defeated the Dallas Mavericks 122-106 on Saturday night at American Airlines Center for their first win of the season.
De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle added 19 points apiece for the Spurs, who improved to 1-2 and avoided their first 0-3 start since the 2008-09 season.
After losses to Oklahoma City on Tuesday and Houston in Austin on Friday, San Antonio found its separation Saturday with a decisive fourth quarter. The Spurs opened the period on a 17-5 run over the first six minutes and outscored Dallas 30-17 in the quarter, turning a tight game into a comfortable finish.
“Definitely good to get our first win of the season,” Fox said. “We want to try and build off of that.”
The closing stretch gave San Antonio something to build on, even if the path there offered plenty for head coach Mitch Johnson to address.
The Spurs surrendered 46 points in the paint before halftime, a Mavericks franchise record for a first half during the play-by-play era dating to 1997-98, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. San Antonio also squandered a 14-point third-quarter lead before regaining control in the fourth.
“They went on some runs in the first half,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to just keep getting back to the standard that we know we are capable of and continue to push ourselves individually and collectively to be more consistent. Our floor right now is way too low.”
Wembanyama’s final numbers followed a quiet opening stretch. He had only one point until midway through the second quarter before two alley-oop dunks within two minutes helped get him going.
He reached halftime with 12 points and finished as San Antonio’s leading scorer, while Harper, Fox and Castle gave the Spurs four players with at least 19.
San Antonio also created additional opportunities on the offensive glass. The Spurs collected 15 offensive rebounds and finished with a 25-10 advantage in second-chance points, a substantial edge in a game they did not put away until the final period.
By the closing minutes, Spurs fans could be heard taking over the Mavericks’ home arena as San Antonio finished off its first victory.
The Mavericks fell to 1-2 while playing without Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving.
Flagg, last season’s Rookie of the Year, suffered a shoulder injury during Friday’s victory at Indiana and will be reevaluated next week. Irving sat out the second game of the back-to-back after returning this season from a torn ACL that sidelined him for 19 months.
Rookie Sergio de Larrea led Dallas with 21 points off the bench, making three of his four attempts from beyond the arc. The Mavericks’ five starters combined for 50 points, with P.J. Washington leading that group with 12.
Dallas’ early success inside and third-quarter comeback kept the Mavericks in contention. But the Spurs’ fourth-quarter surge left them unable to finish the rally.
For Johnson, the result did not erase the uneven habits that have marked San Antonio’s opening three games.
“Effort goes a long way,” Johnson said. “As simple as it sounds, and as talented as these guys are, consistent effort with just a little bit of togetherness and execution, can really be something to grow upon and build upon, and we just have not been consistent enough in a lot of ways.”
Saturday’s finish showed what that combination can produce. Sustaining it remains the next step.
“There can be a lot of things that are all true at once,” Johnson said, “but we need to start raising some of the floor on some of those habits.”
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