Mavericks Head Back Home In Must Win After Game 5 Loss To Spurs

Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Game 5 Recap

The Dallas Mavericks head home down 3-2 to the San Antonio Spurs after losing game 5, 109-103.

Dallas was down time and time again, but constantly rallied to get within striking distance. Yet, they were never able to gain enough momentum or slow down the Spurs offensive attack.

Player of the Game

Over and Over and Over: The Spurs ran the pick-n-roll over and over again against the Mavericks. It seemed no matter how many times the Spurs ran it, the Mavericks were surprised by the outcome. In the fourth quarter, Tiago Splitter was the recipient of a decent amount of layups off of the Spurs two-man attack. Speaking of Splitter, he finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, giving him his third triple double of this series and career.

New Dad: Becoming a father and limping into the game with a bad ankle didn’t stop Tony Parker. Parker once again was the key cog to the Spurs’ attack. He finished with a team-high 23 points and 5 assists. He also iced the Mavericks rally; after Dirk Nowitzki missed an open baseline jumper that would have cut the lead to two, Parker hit a 3 to beat the shot clock and extend the lead back to seven.

Signs Of Life: Nowitzki has never endured five straight sub-20 point performances and he made sure that it won’t happen. Though he struggled early on, Nowitzki came to life in the fourth quarter to lead the comeback. He finished with 26 points on 10-20 shooting and 15 rebounds, which is the 15th time of his post season career that he’s put up those number. The last time was back in 2009 against the Denver Nuggets in a losing effort. Overall, when he has those type of numbers, the Mavericks are 10-5.

Turning Back the Clock: While Nowitzki, Monta Ellis, and the rest of the Mavericks were non-factors, Vinsanity came back from the past. Vince Carter put up a game high 28 points, while going 10-16 from the field and 7-9 from 3.

Balanced Attack: Behind Parker’s 23, four other Spurs scored at least 15 points. Kawhi Leonard (15 points), Tim Duncan (16 points, 12 rebounds), Splitter (17 points, 12 rebounds), Manu Ginobili (19 points) all pitched in.

No Help: While San Antonio had a balanced attack, only one other player on the Mavericks besides Nowitzki and Carter eclipsed the eight points. Ellis finished with 21 points to give Dallas three players with 20+ points. Issue is, while Ellis, Carter, and Nowitzki combined for 75 points, the rest of the six Mavericks who played scored just 28 points total.

Friday’s Game 6 returns to Dallas. Tipoff is at 7 pm CT.