All eyes were on Rajon Rondo making his Mavs debut Saturday night, December 20, but it was Monta Ellis who stole the show, as the Mavs beat the San Antonio Spurs, 99-93.
San Antonio was playing without their entire starting lineup, as Greg Popovich decided to rest his players after back-to-back tripe overtime losses coming into Saturday night's contest.
Ellis tied his season high with 38 points and was the Mavs closer down the stretch, as he made 11 of those points during the final four minutes. Despite missing their five best players, the Spurs led throughout much of the game until Ellis broke a 93-93 tie with a driving basket with 1:48 to play to give Dallas the lead for good.
Rondo scored six points on 3-for-11 shooting and had nine assists along with seven rebounds and gave the Mavs a solid performance on the defensive end as well, something they've lacked this season. "It was exciting," Rondo said. "Best part was we got the win."
“Well, I’ve been here 24 hours, and I’ve probably practiced more in 24 hours than I have all season,” Rondo said after putting in extra work learning the Mavs’ system. “I’ve been on the court with Coach Carlisle … and they’ve been testing me, running over plays left and right. But for the most part, we just played with a great flow tonight and we got the win.”
“He looked pretty good already,” Nowitzki said of Rondo’s play in his debut. “You know, I figured a smart player like that will pick everything up really quick. I actually think he knows some of the plays better than our own players we had out there. That’s just how smart he is. The stuff he reads out there is fantastic. Obviously, I think we’ve got some room to improve on both ends of the floor and get used to each other even more. But I like playing with him, and so does everybody else.”
Marco Belinelli led San Antonio with 21 points, while Aron Baynes added a career-high 16 points.
While the Spurs led for most of the game, they committed a total of 25 turnovers which turned to be too much to overcome. With the loss, the Spurs are now riding a four game losing streak and have lost six of their last eight games.
The Spurs will next host the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday, December 22, while the Mavericks will host the Atlanta Hawks Monday night.
