Mavericks 99 Spurs 93: Game 28 Recap

The Lead
In Rondo's debut the short-handed Spurs stifle the Mavs offense for much of the night, but in the clutch once again it was all about Monta.

Box Score

Leaders
Mavs
Points: Ellis, 38
Rebounds: Chandler, 14
Assists: Rondo, 9
+-: Rondo, +17
Spurs
Points: Belinelli, 21
Rebounds: Baynes, 10
Assists: Diaw, 4
+-: Anderson, +11

Game Ball
Monta Ellis
38 points, 4 steals, 15-23 FG, 5-6 3PT

X Factor
Rajon Rondo
6 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, 4 charges drawn

Goat Horns
Boris Diaw
8 points, 4-16 FG, 5 TO

Play of the Game
With the Mavs up 2 with a minute and a half left, Monta Ellis steal of Marco Belinelli leads to a fast break missed layup from Rajon Rondo that was tipped in by Chandler Parsons. These were the onnly 2 of the last 13 Mav points that Monta didn't score.

Stat of the Game
Monta now has 15 ten point quarters so far this season including four in the 4th quarter.

Of Note

• Rondo played 34 minutes in his Mavs debut, filling up the box score despite going 3-11 from the field.
• The Spurs coming off back-to-back triple overtime games and already without Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard due to injuries, rested Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and Tiago Splitter.
• The Mavs snapped a 10 game regular season losing streak to the Spurs.
• Dirk had a rough shooting game going only 4-14 from the field.
• The Spurs were a perfect 26-26 from the line. However they were only 3-13 on threes.
• Every Mav but newly acquired Dwight Powell saw action including Ricky Ledo who saw his first action of the season.

Grades
Nowitzki: C-
Parsons: B+
Chandler: A-
Ellis: A+
Rondo: B+
Smith: D
Jefferson: C
Harris: A-

Quote of Note
"It was exciting. The best part about it was that we got the win tonight. It was a tough grind win, but we fought with it, stayed with it and got the win."
Rondo on his first game as a Maverick

They Tweeted It

"And that, son... is how you have it all." pic.twitter.com/KfRg2v6edn
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) December 21, 2014

Next Up
The Mavs (20-8) remain at home on Monday to take on one of the East's best teams; the red-hot Atlanta Hawks (19-7).