De’Aaron Fox racked up 32 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to lead the host San Antonio Spurs over the short-handed Dallas Mavericks 126-116 on Wednesday in the second of two games in three nights between the Lone Star State rivals.
The Spurs led by just two at the break but took charge in the third quarter, going up by a dozen on the way to a 97-87 advantage heading into the final 12 minutes. San Antonio pushed its advantage to 14 early in the fourth before the Mavericks drew to within eight on a Spencer Dinwiddie 3-pointer with 8:36 remaining.
That was as close as Dallas would get as the Spurs pulled away in the final minutes to snap a three-game losing streak. San Antonio avoided a sweep of the season series after Dallas won the first three matchups, including Monday’s 133-129 road victory.
Fox’s point output was his highest as a member of the Spurs since being traded from the Sacramento Kings in early February.
Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan each added 18 points off the bench, while Devin Vassell had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Harrison Barnes scored 14 points for the Spurs.
Reserve Brandon Williams led Dallas with 19 points, with Dante Exum adding 17, Naji Marshall and Kessler Edwards scoring 15 apiece and Dinwiddie hitting for 14 points. The Mavericks have dropped six of their past seven.
San Antonio led for the majority of the first quarter but the Mavericks rallied, tying the game at 18 on Powell’s three-point play at the three-minute mark and carrying a 28-20 lead at the end of the period.
The Spurs trimmed their deficit to 48-44 after Fox’s dunk near the six-minute mark and knotted the game at 58 on Chris Paul’s 3-pointer with 2:23 left in the half. Another Paul trey granted San Antonio a 64-60 edge with 35 seconds remaining, and the Spurs carried a 64-62 lead to the break.
Fox led all scorers with 17 points before halftime while Barnes had 14 on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. Marshall paced the Mavericks with 13 points with Edwards hitting for 12 and Williams scoring 10 points over the first 24 minutes.
