The [San Antonio Spurs](https://www.poundingtherock.com) needed to respond after a poor defensive performance that led to a loss to the [Dallas Mavericks](https://www.mavsmoneyball.com) on Monday. The Mavs are missing about half of their roster but still managed to outplay the Spurs at the Frost Bank Center. It took them a while to get into the swing of things against Dallas on Wednesday, but when they did, they responded with force.
Early on it looked like the Spurs would roll over once again to the Mavs after going down 28-20 in the first quarter. There wasn’t a lot of defensive resistance, and besides De’Aaron Fox getting buckets off the bounce, there was not a lot of offensive aggression. That quickly changed in quarters two through four.
San Antonio took over the rest of the game by playing solid, aggressive defense and downhill attacking offense. The Spurs had 11 steals and forced 18 Dallas turnovers. They outscored the Mavs 66-52 in the paint and out-rebounded them 47-31, including a 13-3 advantage on the offensive glass.
The tone was set by Keldon Johnson, who has been a fireball of energy off the bench lately. He had 18 points and 5 rebounds off the bench. His aggressive play getting to the basket has been a major improvement over where he was earlier in the season. He’s much better as a slasher than a floor spacer. Perhaps he’s finally settling into his role off the bench.
It’s difficult to play with this kind of aggression and energy for all 82 games. If the Spurs can channel this more often and against teams with a complete roster, they can compete. It may not happen this year, but these are the nights that give some encouragement for the future of the core group when Victor Wembanyama returns next season.
### **Takeaways**
* It’s been a minute since we got the full Fox experience, but he showed up in a big way on Wednesday. He had a double-double with 32 points and 11 assists and was one rebound shy of a triple-double. It felt like one of the few games he’s had as a Spur where he took over the game offensively. He hit mid-range jumpers, finished at the rim in transition, and got to the line where he made 6 of his 6 free throw attempts. With a finger surgery likely looming in the coming week, this may be one of the last glimpses we get of Fox before next season. It was a good performance to go out on.
* There has been a lot of criticism for the Spurs’ usage of Jeremy Sochan over the last two seasons. Point guard, center... anywhere but his traditional position of forward. What we are finding out is that it doesn’t necessarily matter where they put Sochan, he just finds a way to fit in. He was excellent as the Spurs’ backup center on Wednesday and closed the game out as their primary big. He had 18 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. He played awesome defense, finished plays from the dunker spot and as a rebounder, and even knocked down a pair of threes, looking like a legitimate threat from deep. Sochan is the ultimate glue guy. He just finds a way to fit in.
* It wasn’t Stephon Castle’s greatest game. He struggled to make much of an impact in his 27 minutes, scoring 8 points and giving up 4 turnovers. To add insult to injury, the Spurs took the tires off his car after the game in a hilarious rookie prank.