The Dallas Mavericks kicked off their first back-to-back of the season Saturday night with a tough 122-106 loss to the reigning Western Conference champion Spurs. Man, that stings, especially on a home court. But despite the scoreboard, this game wasn’t all bad news. Rookie Sergio De Larrea dropped a team-leading 21 points, and Coach Dusty May pulled off a flawless 5-for-5 on his challenge calls this season. With Cooper Flagg sidelined with a shoulder injury and Kyrie Irving getting some load management, there was a huge opportunity for other guys to step up, and a few definitely took it.
Coach May’s Challenge Streak Is Straight Up Legendary
Seriously, has anyone ever seen a coach this dialed in on challenges? Dusty May is on an absolute tear, hitting five for five this season. That’s a perfect record, folks! Early in the second quarter, he challenged a foul call on Daniel Gafford. Not only did that prevent Gafford from picking up his third foul, keeping him on the floor, but it also kept possession with the Mavs. Then he did it again in the third, overturning an out-of-bounds call to get the ball back. You might think it’s a small thing, and yeah, he’s probably not gonna keep this 100% success rate all season. But listen, in a game of inches, every possession matters, and not burning timeouts for bad calls is pure gold. This man has a knack for spotting ref errors, and that’s the kind of coaching detail that adds up over a long season.
Sergio De Larrea: The Scoring Punch We Needed
This is where it gets exciting, Mavs fans. Sergio De Larrea came into this game after looking, let’s just say, a bit lost in his first two NBA outings. But against one of the best teams in the league? Dude looked like a seasoned pro out there, draining shots and leading all Mavericks scorers with 21 points. He was unconscious on the offensive end! With Irving out, there was a massive hole in the scoring and offensive orchestration department. You don’t just replace a Hall of Famer, but De Larrea really stepped up and provided that much-needed punch. If this performance is a sign of things to come, if this is his official arrival on the NBA scene, then we’re all in for a serious treat for the rest of the season.
The Board Battle: A Major Red Flag
Alright, let’s talk about the ugly part. Dallas played hard all night, you could see the effort, but they got absolutely smoked on the boards. The Spurs had a staggering 25-10 advantage in second-chance points, meaning they were grabbing offensive rebounds and getting extra shots at a crazy rate. The Mavs were getting out-rebounded by a factor of two-and-a-half times! That’s a huge problem. It wasn’t just giving up offensive boards either; a few times, they’d secure a rebound only to turn it over, which basically just gives the opponent another possession anyway. Daniel Gafford’s foul trouble didn’t help the cause, but the team, collectively, has got to swarm those boards. This is an early-season trend, and it needs to be fixed. On the bright side, the Mavs’ defensive effort did lead to a high “stocks” total, picking up 14 steals and blocks. That’s a good sign of hustle, but it won’t matter if you can’t clean the glass.
It’s still super early in the season, but these trends are what we gotta keep our eyes on. The Mavs are gonna need to figure out their rebounding issues if they want to hang with the league’s best. But with Coach May making all the right calls and a rookie like De Larrea stepping up big time, there’s definitely some good stuff to look forward to as they navigate this tough schedule.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Mavs Moneyball.
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