Mavs come alive in third quarter to beat Spurs

Kyrie Irving and reserve Daniel Gafford each scored 22 points, and the Dallas Mavericks pulled away in the third quarter for a 110-93 victory over the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.

The Mavericks had lost four straight games by a combined eight points, but were on cruise control against San Antonio. Dallas led by four at halftime and by 24 after a rousing third quarter before driving to the finish.

Luka Doncic chipped in with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Mavericks, while Jaden Hardy added 12 points.

Zach Collins finished with 20 points for the Spurs on the season, with Sandro Mamukelashvili adding 14, Julian Champagnie scoring 13 and Stephon Castle with 12. San Antonio has lost two straight.

San Antonio was without star center Victor Wembanyama with a knee contusion and guard Devin Vassell, who sat out with what the team called a right foot injury.

That didn’t stop the Spurs from rallying from an early seven-point deficit to take a 28-23 lead after one quarter when Champagnie made 2 of 3 free throws with 0.2 seconds left in the opening period.

San Antonio was up by as many as eight points early in the second quarter before the Mavericks swept to the front. Down 40-35 after a pair of free throws by Collins with 6:31 left in the first half, Dallas rallied to tie the game at 47 with 3:12 left on Gafford’s running layup. The hosts’ run continued with a bucket from Naji Marshall followed by 3-pointers from Irving and Doncic.

The Spurs scored the final four points of the frame to pull within 55-51 at halftime.

After an early third-quarter spurt by Dallas, the Spurs pulled within six points on two Collins free throws with 8:03 left. The Mavericks then took charge for good, going on a 12-3 run that was capped by Irving’s tip-in layup to push their advantage to 78-63.

— Field level media