Mavs' Comeback Comes Up Short Against Victor Wembanyama's Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks 112-111 on Wednesday night behind a 52-point, 24-rebound, eight-block performance from Victor Wembanyama. San Antonio survived a Dallas rally that erased a 17-point halftime deficit and tied the game with less than two minutes remaining.

The Mavericks fall to 4-4 as the Spurs have now won six in a row.

The first half looked like the Mavs' troubles from Monday followed them into the Frost Bank Center. Wembanyama scored 29 points before halftime as San Antonio built a 68-51 lead. He also blocked three consecutive attempts in 13 seconds during the second quarter, rejecting Cooper Flagg, P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford in succession.

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Dallas outscored the Spurs 60-44 over the final two quarters. The Mavericks cut the deficit to 10 by the end of the third, then leaned on Naji Marshall in the fourth.

The final two minutes featured costly mistakes from Dallas. Marshall blocked a De'Aaron Fox pull-up jumper and secured the rebound with 1:29 left, then threw the ball away to Devin Vassell five seconds later. Kyrie Irving missed a 27-foot 3-pointer with 43 seconds remaining.

Wembanyama missed the first of two free throws with 24 seconds left before making the second. That gave Dallas one more possession, but Irving's 16-foot turnaround with three seconds remaining rimmed out. Dylan Harper grabbed the rebound to secure the win.

Marshall finished with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting and went 3-of-3 from 3-point range. Fifteen of his points came in the fourth quarter, marking his best performance of the season so far .

Flagg's performance was another storyline to follow. He entered the second half in the middle of what might have been the worst six-quarter stretch of his young career. After his bad shooting night against Sacramento, he struggled to finish around the rim in the first half against San Antonio.

He responded with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, six rebounds and five assists after halftime. Flagg finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in 40 minutes.

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Irving led Dallas with 29 points but needed 27 shots to get there. He finished 9-of-27 from the field and 5-of-14 from 3-point range while adding seven rebounds and five assists. Washington contributed 21 points and 10 rebounds. Walter Clayton Jr. continued his strong stretch with eight points, six rebounds and five assists off the bench.

Wembanyama shot 16-of-28 from the field and attempted 23 free throws, making 19. Nine of his 24 rebounds came on the offensive glass. Harper finished with 21 points for San Antonio and Stephon Castle added 17. The Spurs shot 38.9 percent from the field but made 39 free throws and collected 22 offensive rebounds.

Dallas will try to carry its second-half momentum into Friday, when the Mavericks host Utah.