The Spurs came out hot offensively. Kawhi Leonard knocked down two triples, Tony Parker had a couple of buckets in the lane, and LaMarcus Aldridge looked nice and fresh hitting two jumpers in the first few minutes. There was a combination of good defense from the Spurs and the Mavericks not being able to get the lid off the rim for the majority of he first quarter that gave the Spurs a lead 24-18 after one.
The Spurs fell a tad cold in the second quarter, and a run by the Mavericks cut what was once a 12 point lead down to just one. There wasn't much movement on the offensive end and shots just weren't falling, but the Spurs never gave up the lead. Dallas couldn't find any sort of groove, though, and a Parker led Spurs closed the quarter out on small run to give the Silver and Black a 46-39 advantage at the half. Parker had 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, three assists, and three rebounds in the opening quarters. Aldridge had 12 as well, and Kawhi had 11.
The Spurs' defense was solid in the first half, and didn't allow a single Maverick to score more than six points, and held the team to 32% shooting. San Antonio currently leads the league in DefRtg, only allowing a shade over 90 points per 100 possessions from it's opponents.
The Spurs quickly extended the lead to double digits to open up the second half which led to a quick Mavericks' time-out, but the Spurs caught the turnover bug after the that and allowed a 9-0 Mavs' run to cut the lead to one. Dallas was much more aggressive on both ends of the floor in the third. SA headed into the final quarter up by three thanks to a buzzer beating three by David West.
The Spurs gained a slight bit of momentum to start the fourth but still can't shake that habit of letting teams stick around late in games. The Spurs found themselves up only one with less than a minute left, and then Kawhi crushed any hopes the Mavericks had by knocking down a huge three with 15 seconds to go.
So, the Spurs hang on with a 88-83 victory, improving to 12-3. Kawhi ended up with 26, eight and five. Parker finished with 16, eight, and eight, and LaMarcus notched 18 points along with seven boards.