Dennis Smith Jr. explodes past the defense to drop the hammer
The I-35 rivalry has been more than a bit lopsided in recent years and tonight was no different. The San Antonio Spurs came out of the gate slow, but took the lead in the second quarter and never looked back.
San Antonio won the game 97-91, but the path to victory was sloppier than head coach Gregg Popovich probably cared for. The Spurs turned the ball over twelve times in the game and shot an icy cold 23 percent from beyond the arc. Although the win wasn’t pretty, it helped vault the Spurs to third in the Western Conference standings.
Aside from rather forgettable performances from their starters and second unit, Patty Mills and LaMarcus Aldridge showed up and pushed the Spurs past the Mavs. Aldridge poured in a season high 32 points while dishing out a team high four assists. Mills found a rhythm from downtown and drilled four three pointers on his way to collecting 19 points.
While the Spurs continued to move up the ranks, the made Dallas the worst team in the NBA and held them to their league worst record. The Mavericks fell to 2-13 on the season, and it appears as though they have all but locked in an early vacation come playoff time.
One silver lining for the Mavs was rookie point guard Dennis Smith Jr. The explosive floor general netted a career high 27 points against the spurs, including the jaw-dropping blow by of Pau Gasol shown above.
Dallas isn’t competing anytime soon, but their rookie star is more than in the Rookie of the Year Award race. With dunks like these, even if he fails to take home the hardware over his star studded rookie classmates, he’s sure to end up on the Sportscenter Top 10 more than a few times.
