Takeaways from win over Spurs: Mavs doing what needs to be done

In the middle meeting of three contests in 16 days against the San Antonio Spurs, the Mavericks had to scratch and claw, but came out with a 109-108 victory at AT&T Center.

They earned the win with a lot of grit and clutch play to improve to 5-3. The Spurs are 2-6, but have taken just about every opponent down to the final buzzer.

Here’s our takeaways from the Mavericks’ hard-fought win:

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: OK, the Mavericks have lost by 31 to Denver, 26 to Atlanta and 15 to Miami. Those are high-quality teams that have made deep playoff runs in recent seasons. But the Mavericks also have beaten San Antonio twice, Sacramento, Toronto and Houston. Those are not high-quality teams at this…