The San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks may be headed in completely different directions right now, but the rivalry still burns along IH-35. It was a chippy, defensive slug-fest that featured some spurts of vintage of Dirk Nowitzki, J.J. Barea (a.k.a. “The Pest”) being his floppy, unstoppable self, and two of the smartest coaches in the league going head-to-head.
Rick Carlisle had his players well versed on where Spurs passing lanes are, and it showed early as the Spurs committed five turnovers in the first quarter that mostly consisted of Mavs players easily intercepting passes.