Mavericks lose to Spurs’ scrubs, face Oklahoma City in playoffs
Fortunately for the Dallas Mavericks, their playoff fortunes this season didn’t hinge on the outcome of their game Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs.
Otherwise, today they would be calling Travelocity or some other fancy online travel website making off-season vacation plans.
In one of the most disappointing performances of the season, the short-handed San Antonio Spurs waltzed into American Airlines Center and stunned the Mavs, winning 96-91 in front of 20,346.
It was stunning because the Spurs’ top players — Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and David West — didn’t even come to Dallas for the regular season finale.
It also was stunning because two players the average NBA fan barely knows — or still may not know at all — were the ones who did the most damage to the Mavs with some career-high numbers
Boban Marjanovic scored a career-high 22 points and collected 12 rebounds, and Jonathon Simmons added a career-high 19 points and seven rebounds for the Spurs, who finished the regular season as the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed with a 67-15 record.
The Mavs, meanwhile, finished with a 42-40 record after blowing an 18-point lead in the third quarter.
Dallas will open postseason play this weekend on the road as the sixth seed against the Oklahoma City Thunder. That was cemented when Golden State won their record 73rd game of the season by easily handling the Memphis Grizzlies 125-104.
Memphis also finished 42-20, but Dallas owned the tiebreaker, dropping the injury-depleted Grizzlies to the seventh seed and a matchup with San Antonio.
The Mavericks open the playoffs at 8:30 p.m. Saturday in Oklahoma City. Game 2 is at 7 p.m. Monday before the series shifts to Dallas for Game 3 at 6 p.m. Wednesday and Game 4 at
Game 3 will be at 6 p.m. April 21, and Game 4 is at 7 p.m. April 23. KTXA/Channel 21 will have the local telecasts.
“Tonight was disappointing,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “But we’ve got to flush it and get ready for the playoffs, and that’s where we are.”
The Mavs were either disinterested or resigned to being the sixth seed no matter how the game against the Spurs turned out. And the third quarter, when they were outscored 31-15, sort of symbolized what transpired when the game was still up for grabs.
We’ve got to flush it and get ready for the playoffs, and that’s where we are.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle
on losing to the star-less Spurs“We got boomed,” Carlisle said of his team’s poor showing in the third period. “We were struggling to make shots and our defense was poor.
“The bottom line is their second half was better than our first half, because we played a great first half and they played a better second half.”
It didn’t help that Mavs center David Lee left the game for good in the third quarter with an injury to his right heel. X-rays taken were negative.
“We hope it’s not serious,” Carlisle said. “I don’t have an exact diagnosis.
“He came down and he felt something, so he came in and that was it.”
We hope it’s not serious. I don’t have an exact diagnosis.
Carlisle on the heel injury to reserver forward David Lee
The Mavs also were without guards J.J. Barea (strained right groin) and Devin Harris (sprained left thumb). That left Carlisle to say, “We’re the Masking Tape Mavs. Our guys have done it on grits and guts.”
Those grits and guts were sorely missing against the Spurs, who swept the Mavs 4-0 this season.
The Spurs opened the second half with a 30-12 run to tie the game at 64-64 late in the third quarter. San Antonio eventually bolted ahead 90-85 with 39.4 seconds left.
The Mavs got within 92-91, only to see Andre Miller drill two free throws to give the Spurs a three-point lead with 7.3 seconds left. Raymond Felton, who led the Mavs with 22 points, misfired on a 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left to end Dallas’ hopes.
“Yeah, it was disappointing that we didn’t win this one, but hope J.J. is healthy, Devin and the other guys, D-Lee and see who we got this weekend,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “San Antonio, OKC all those teams up there are incredibly good and incredibly deep.
“It’s going to be an uphill battle whoever we face. But we’ll sure try, battle like we did the last few weeks and see what happens.”
Dwain Price: 817-390-7760, @dwainprice
This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Mavericks lose to Spurs’ scrubs, face Oklahoma City in playoffs."