Los Angeles (AFP) – Australian guard Patty Mills came off the bench to score 23 points for the short-handed San Antonio Spurs in 94-87 victory over the Mavericks in Dallas.
The Spurs rallied to remain perfect on the road this season, improving to 11-0 in away games with their second win over Dallas in the past 10 days.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich rested stars Pau Gasol, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker on the second night of back-to-back games.
Spain’s Gasol and Argentina’s Ginobili didn’t even leave San Antonio, while France’s Parker made the trip to Dallas but didn’t play.
Even without their big guns, the Spurs came back from a 13-point third-quarter deficit.
Mills scored 15 in the fourth period, including eight points in a row as the Spurs went up 90-84.
“I thought that was the moral of that victory, not giving in no matter what,” Mills said.
Mills hit six of seven shots in the final quarter, nine of 12 for the game. He connected on five of six attempts from three-point range.
The Mavericks, a league-worst 3-14, were led by Wesley Matthews’ season-high 26 points.
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle had his own injury troubles to contend with. Dirk Nowitzki was out for the 12th time this season, Deron Williams and Devin Harris were limited and Seth Curry left the game late with an undisclosed injury.
“Our guys played extremely hard, and we ran out of players at the end,” Carlisle said. “We had a couple guys on minutes limits and Seth got banged up at the end.”
San Antonio led for most of the first half, but the Mavericks surged ahead in the third quarter with a 15-0 run that put them up 60-47.
But the Spurs battled back. In addition to Mills’ strong late play, San Antonio saw starter Kawhi Leonard score 18 of his 21 points in the second half.
“I just finally started making shots and moving the ball,” Leonard said. “Obviously, Patty knocked down four or five shots in a row.”
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