NBA Playoffs: Looking Back at San Antonio Spurs-Dallas Mavericks Game 1

Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The San Antonio Spurs played far from perfect in their narrow victory against the Dallas Mavericks on Easter Sunday. I can’t complain too much since the Spurs were able to squeeze out the win, but there were plenty of things that many Spurs fans were not happy about from game one.

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Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Tim Duncan‘s Minutes

Tim Duncan played almost 38 minutes of action on Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, I loved how he took over the game and was able to grind through all those minutes.

He probably would have played more if there had not been the knee scare in the 3rd quarter, but a soon to be 38 year old shouldn’t be playing that many minutes…yet. The Spurs need Duncan to be as fresh and energetic as he can be throughout all of playoffs, preferably in a deeper round. It will be hard to expect that from him if he’s playing in the high 30’s in every game leading up to the latter games in series.

By no means is this Pop’s fault either. The Spurs were simply not getting it done on the offensive end, except for the aging Big Three. Im ecstatic to see Duncan doing Duncan and still controlling the game, but let’s hope next game he can rest a little bit more.

Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

 Bench (except Ginobili)

The Foreign Legion averaged 44.8 points per game at home all season. On Sunday, the bench only scored 23, and 17 of those points came from Ginobili. Not only did they barely score, they only managed to dish out five assists compared to their usual 12.3 at home.

Perhaps Boris Diaw had a reason for his struggles on the offensive end. He did a great job pestering and locking down Nowitzki on defense. Diaw isn’t the most conditioned guy, so perhaps he was tired when the Spurs were on offense.

Mills and Belinelli looked lost throughout the whole game.They went a combined one for eight from the field, and just looked like they lacked confidence out on the floor.

The Mavericks did do a great job defensively, but hopefully next game the bench steps up.

Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Three-Point Shooting

The Spurs shot 41.5 percent from three at home. They averaged almost nine three pointers at home as well.

On Sunday, the Spurs made only three of their shots from long range off of 17 attempts. All three of those makes were from Ginobili.

Lets look at everyone else’s three point shooting

Danny Green: 0-1

Patty Mills: 0-3

Marco Belinelli: 0-2

Kawhi Leonard: 0-3

Boris Diaw: 0-1

Tony Parker: 0-1

Danny Green is a player whose offense heavily depends on the three pointer, so it was surprising to see that he only attempted one three pointer throughout the whole game. The Spurs need him to start knocking some down along with all those other guys.

Again, give credit to the Mavericks for their defense, but the Spurs will not get far if they can’t start knocking down a few more threes per game.