Mavs come to life in third quarter to pound Spurs

Kyrie Irving and reserve Daniel Gafford each scored 22 points and the Dallas Mavericks pulled away in the third quarter for a 110-93 win over the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.

The Mavericks had dropped four straight games by a combined eight points but were on cruise control against San Antonio. Dallas led by four at halftime and by 24 after a rousing third quarter before coasting to the finish.

Luka Doncic hit for 16 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Mavericks, while Jaden Hardy added 12 points.

Zach Collins finished with a season-high 20 points for the Spurs, with Sandro Mamukelashvili adding 14, Julian Champagnie scoring 13 and Stephon Castle posting 12. San Antonio has dropped two straight games.

San Antonio was without star center Victor Wembanyama because of a knee contusion and guard Devin Vassell, who sat out with what the team called right foot injury management.

That didn't stop the Spurs from shrugging off an early seven-point deficit to take a 28-23 lead after one quarter, as Champagnie canned 2 of 3 free throws with 0.2 seconds remaining in the opening period.

San Antonio was up by as many as eight points early in the second quarter before the Mavericks swept to the front. Down 40-35 after a pair of free throws by Collins with 6:31 to play in the first half, Dallas rallied to tie the game at 47 with 3:12 left on Gafford's running layup. The hosts' run continued with a bucket from Naji Marshall followed by 3-pointers from Irving and Doncic.

The Spurs scored the final four points of the frame to pull within 55-51 at the break.

After an early third-quarter spurt by Dallas, the Spurs got within six points on two free throws from Collins with 8:03 remaining. The Mavericks then took charge for good, reeling off a 12-3 run that was capped by Irving's tip-in layup to push their advantage to 78-63.

--Field Level Media