Dallas Mavericks Lose To San Antonio Spurs 116-107

Dec 26, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs power forward Tim Duncan (21) looks for the ball during the second half against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Duncan finishes with his tenth double-double of the season. The Spurs defeated the Mavericks 116-107. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

DALLAS– The Dallas Mavericks could not overcome the defending Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs tonight losing 116-107. Danny Green made a perfect 10-out-of-10 total shots for 22 points.

It was another strong start for the Mavs to begin the game, until a 12-2 run by the Spurs to end the first quarter. They ended the quarter 27-20 and never gave up the lead again.

Dejuan Blair led the charge early on against his former team with six of his 14 points in the first after getting the start at center. Brandan Wright did not play due to illness and Samuel Dalembert was a surprise show after missing most of practice ill. He played Tim Duncan as best as anyone could late in the fourth quarter.

Carlisle on Dalembert:

"He heard Brandon wasn’t going to be here so he showed up for us and that was big for us. He played really well."

The Spurs led by as much as 15 points during the game. There unselfish play allowed them to shoot over 50% from the field for the majority of the game.

Carlisle:

"You have to play with a certain precision and a certain level of focus and concentration against them otherwise the slippage will kill you."

Dallas played better defense in the second half. After a 12-0 run in the fourth, the cut a 15-point deficit down to only three, 100-97 with 3:55 left to play.

Tony Parker on holding on at the end:

"They played pretty good zone. We struggled for a couple of possessions. At the end we got it back and we got stops that we needed to win the game."

Tim Duncan:

"We were just playing. We weren’t worried about anything. We just kept our composure to finish the game"

Monta Ellis’ 13 points and Dirk Nowitzki’s seven led the charge for the Mavs. Nowitzki finished with 25, Ellis with 23.

Dirk on tonight’s lose:

"[We’re] just giving up to many points. 116 tonight, thats almost 30 point quarters across the board, its tough. It puts a lot of pressure on the offense."

With Green getting hot from downtown, Duncan warming up in the paint, and Tony Parker facilitating, the Mavs could not maintain any defense to slow them down.

Carlisle on the Spurs:

"Their team has been together for a long time. They are highly skilled. They have a lot of guys that are great players and they took advantage of it. We basically had to pitch a shut-out in the last four minutes and we had a chance to do it, but we had a couple of mistakes that short circuited us."

Dallas travels to Chicago on Saturday to play the more physical Bulls.

Game Notes:

Vince Carter became the 10th player in NBA history to make 1,700 three-point shots.  He was also a perfect 11-11 from the free throw line. Tony Parker had a team high 23 points. Tim Duncan had a double-double with 21 points and 13 boards. The Mavericks had two players, Jae Crowder and Shane Larkin, that played over 10 minutes and made zero points.