**SAN ANTONIO – Energy and effort sometimes aren’t enough when you are short on firepower like the Mavericks are these days.**
**Especially when you don’t put up much of a defensive fight.**
The Mavericks allowed the San Antonio Spurs to get pretty much whatever they wanted on Wednesday night and paid the price as they fell 126-116 to the Spurs at Frost Bank Center.
The Spurs got big nights from De’Aaron Fox and Keldon Johnson as they won the second of these two games in San Antonio. The Mavericks had taken Monday’s clash 133-129.
The Mavericks were going for the season sweep of the Spurs, but had to settle for winning three of four meetings this season as they fell to 33-34.
The Mavericks had led Wednesday for much of the first half, but fell behind in the third quarter and when rookie Stephon Castle completed a three-point play with 4:38 remaining for a 115-101 San Antonio lead. The Mavericks never made a push down the stretch.
Fox finished with 32 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, while Johnson had 18 points for the Spurs.
The Mavericks got 19 points from Brandon Williams, who returned after missing Monday’s game with a calf injury. He led five Mavericks in double figures.
The Mavericks actually served notice early that they weren’t going to go away without a battle. A 22-4 rush that crossed into the second quarter landed the Mavericks a 31-20 advantage and they kept the hammer down through the rest of the first half until a flurry of Spurs’ three-pointers at the end left the Mavericks trailing 64-62 at the half.
Neither team could stop the other, obviously.
The injury list for the Mavericks remained long: While Williams returned, still out were Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, Jaden Hardy, Dereck Lively II, Kyrie Irving, Kai Jones, O-Max Prosper and P.J. Washington.
However, Washington was upgraded to questionable for Wednesday’s game although he ultimately was ruled out.
“It’s good,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Hopefully he has a couple more good days here and he can get back to playing.”
The Mavericks haven’t had any real practice time, partly because of the busy slate of games and also because there simply are not enough healthy players to have scrimmages.
But the preparation for game hasn’t changed all that much, Kidd said.
“Nothing’s changed, just the last names,” he said. “The ball has to touch the paint and something good happens in this league. And that’s what we’re doing. We’re driving it. We’re 6-8 and (smaller), so the ability to have the ball touch the paint, catch and shoot or redrive is something that this league does at a high level and that’s what we’re going.
“As much as you look at the Bostons of the world shooting 50 threes, for us, it’s about taking the right shot and we’ve done that since training camp. And we continue to do that 66 games in. If we’re wide-open, if we turn it down, can we get a better one. But the ball has to touch the paint and that’s what the guys are doing.”
Briefly: Spurs’ acting head coach Mitch Johnson said that 7-3 Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs’ All-Star center who is out for the remainder of the season with blood clot complications in his shoulder, is staying engaged with the team. “Wishing he could be out there,” Johnson said of Wembanyama’s attitude. “Anytime he can interact with his teammates and you see him on the bench, very engaged, talking to people – doing everything he can other than throw a jersey on, so it’s awesome to have him around.” . . . The Mavericks will head to Houston where they will play the Rockets on Friday to wrap up this three-game trip.
X: @ESefko