The Dallas Mavericks fell to 1-1 in Las Vegas Summer League, losing to the San Antonio Spurs, 76-69. David Garcia-Jones led the Spurs in scoring with 21 while number two overall draft pick Dylan Harper scored 16 with six rebounds, a pair of assists, two steals, and a block. Cooper Flagg scored 31 points and grabbed four rebounds in defeat.
Miles Kelly got things started for Dallas, connecting on a three then getting fouled shooting another and hitting all three free throws. San Antonio struggled with the length of the Mavericks in the opening minutes, with Dallas forcing the Spurs to use the full shot clock on multiple possessions. With the Mavericks effectively packing the paint, the Spurs found and made threes, taking an early lead over Dallas. Cooper Flagg finally got on the board, scoring a driving lay-up on his fourth attempt of the game, but he missed the accompanying free throw. A lack of action from Dallas on offense allowed the Spurs to hound the Mavericks into a poor shooting quarter. Free throws were the only saving grace for Dallas in the period and they trailed 21-11 after 10 minutes of Summer League.
The rookies led the way to start the second quarter with both Flagg and Dylan Harper making highlight-worthy plays. Like Los Angeles on Friday, the Spurs elected to put pressure on Dallas ball handlers in the backcourt whenever possible. Much like the first half there was a lid on the basket for Dallas for most of the second quarter. Free throws and effort kept the Mavericks in the game. Despite just five made field goals in the first 17 minutes of game action, Dallas tied the game at 25 with under three minutes remaining in the half. A sweet Jordan Hall one-footed fadeaway gave the Mavericks their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. Harper retook the lead on a fantastic drive and finish with a foul. The Spurs led 33-32 at the half.
After just eight made field goals in the first half, the Mavericks scored eight field goals in the third quarter. Unfortunately, as their offense picked up, the defense faltered. The Spurs scored early and often and built upon their halftime lead. David Jones-Garcia continued his hot scoring, scoring 18 through three quarters. San Antonio led by as many as 12 in the quarter and two late Cooper Flagg baskets helped keep Dallas within range. The Mavericks trailed by 10 entering the fourth, down 59-49.
It went from bad to worse for Dallas in the fourth, with the Spurs scoring eight easy points and forcing a Dallas timeout. The lax ball handling for the Mavericks continued and the San Antonio lead grew to as high as 17 before Dallas found some offfensive footing. The Mavericks worked the San Antonio lead down to 10 points with just under four minutes remaining, forcing a Spurs timeout. The Mavericks made a few last-gasp runs trying to make it a clutch game, but the team didn’t have enough baskets and defense in them. Dallas fell 76-69. Dallas plays the Hornets Monday afternoon for their next Vegas contest.
Can’t win if you can’t score
The Mavericks were pressed from pillar to post against the Spurs. Rare was a possession where a given ball handler bringing the ball up the court didn’t see a defender eagerly attempting to disrupt the possession, even 60 feet away from the basket.
While this happened against Los Angeles as well, something about the nature of the physicality of the Spurs defense got Dallas off track for the entirety of the first half. Dallas hung around through free throws and grit, but the Mavericks had a hard time finding good shot attempts against a swarming Spurs defense.
The Mavericks ended the game with 24 made field goals with 16 of those coming in the second half. They shot just 37% as a team and it was much lower than that for most of the contest. Dallas connected on just six of their 26 threes and those misses doomed Dallas against a tough Spurs squad.
Flagg rising
If you missed this game, the Flagg box score should excite you. 31 points on 20 shots along with 13 trips to the free throw line. He didn’t have many rebounds or assists, but Dallas couldn’t hit a shot on offense and sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way to get boards.
I’m still not in love with how much Dallas is isolating Flagg, but he’s got the one-on-one skills and strength to bull his way to the basket or get separation for a jumper. He’s got the kind of game that silences skeptics. It simply takes watching an entire Flagg game. A few more random Flagg thoughts:
Watching Flagg play with an ineffective center like Jamarion Sharp is frustrating, but it leads to day dreams about seeing Flagg with Anthony Davis, Derrick Lively, and Daniel Gafford.
Flagg is going to need to take fewer long Kevin Garnett jumpers just inside the three-point line. He seems to like stepping into shots versus a catch-and-shoot. Maybe he could work on a side-step three?
Don’t take that the wrong way, he shot eight threes, making three of them, so he’s shooting plenty. I just don’t like long twos if you can make a three.
Flagg’s defensive awareness and side-to-side movement is really fun to watch. He seems to appear in the right place on defense sometimes.
Having Cooper Flagg is awesome.
Dylan Harper is ridiculous
He’s going to be a bear to play against four times a year for the foreseeable future. He’s NBA ready right now and is really fun to watch.