The Dallas Mavericks’ (1-2) 2026-27 home opener on Saturday was supposed to be a special one. Just one night after first-year head coach Dusty May got the first NBA win of his career, 121-105 at the Indiana Pacers in something of personal homecoming, having grown up in nearby Bloomington, Friday’s game against the rival San Antonio Spurs (1-2) was supposed to be star guard Kyrie Irving’s first game back on the Mavs’ home floor in exactly 600 days.
Except Irving didn’t play — the team called it injury management, even though his recovery from the torn ACL he suffered on Mar. 3, 2025 against the Sacramento Kings was extended when last season went down the drain, in hopes that he would be 100% ready to go for the start of this year. The home crowd didn’t get the first look at second-year stud Cooper Flagg that they were promised, either, as Flagg was injured the night before, late in the first half of the win at the Pacers, on a hard flagrant foul in transition by Aaron Nesmith.
The Mavs fielded a bare-bones lineup against one of the best teams in the Western Conference at the American Airlines Center on Saturday, but still somehow made it a compelling game for three quarters before falling, 122-106, before a disappointed (announced) sell-out crowd. The likes of Zaccharie Risacher, Naji Marshall and PJ Washington were called upon to lead and rally the troops, but it was rookie Sergio de Larrea, an even more unlikely protagonist, who made things really interesting, finishing with a team-high 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting (3-of-4 from 3-point range).
“We apologize to the fans that they can’t see [Flagg and Irving] today,” team president Masai Ujiri said in a televised state media address alongside the MavsTV broadcast team in the second quarter. “Especially with Kyrie. It’s a back-to-back, four in six days, so it’s tough. But there’s something special between those two.”
The Mavericks couldn’t stop the Spurs’ swingman trio of Devin Vassell (eight points), Stephon Castle (nine points) and De’Aaron Fox (10 points) in the first quarter, employing a zone defense look for much of the frame as a clearly under-manned defensive unit. This wasn’t a strategic move. This was the only move on the board with the roster as constructed on Saturday.
But the Mavericks countered with contributions from everyone left on the roster. Marshall scored nine in the first. Washington and de Larrea each had six, and Dallas trailed just 39-37 at the end of one. The second quarter was just as pleasant a surprise, as the makeshift Mavericks defense was able to slow Victor Wembanyama & Co. as the lead see-sawed back and forth before halftime.
Let’s start with Larry
The sickos found their excitement for this game in the additional minutes that would surely be coming de Larrea’s way. The long and creative Spanish rookie was selected 25th overall in the 2026 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers, then found his way to Dallas in a four-team draft-day trade. He turned heads first with six points and a pair of assists in the first quarter before finessing home a teardrop over Victor Wembanyama midway through the second. He shot 5-of-6 from the field in the first half after looking timid in his first NBA appearance in Wednesday’s 128-110 loss at the Houston Rockets.
MavsTV color commentator Devin Harris coined the nickname Sergio de La-trea after de Larrea connected on his first 3-pointer of the game with 28 seconds left in the first half to pull Dallas to within 63-60. We usually would pay no mind to the silly nicknames the talking heads pat themselves on the back for coming up with, but that one feels like it might have a little staying power. De Larrea led the Mavs with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting (1-of-1 from 3-point range) and three dimes in the first half. His alley-ooping assist to Daniel Gafford streaking to the cup in transition with 7:34 left in the second was a thing of beauty, too.
De Larrea was the first Maverick off the bench, as May continued to substitute with vigor in the third game of the year. He came off the bench just three minutes into the third quarter and hit two more big 3-balls as the Mavs chipped away at what had grown to a 14-point Spurs lead. He followed up his 11-point second-quarter effort with eight more in the third quarter, and the Mavericks cut the San Antonio lead to 92-89 entering the fourth.
Gafford leaves late in second, twice
Gafford limped to the locker room with five minutes left in the second quarter after knocking knees with Castle. He started at center against the Spurs and had gathered eight points and five rebounds to that point. The play after de Larrea’s teardrop over Wembanyama, Gafford pulled down an offensive board, pump faked then dunked through the 7’5” gargantuan and let out one of his barbaric yawps after securing the much taller Wembanyama on his back hip.
He came back onto the floor with under two minutes before halftime, but picked up his fourth foul right before halftime. Like, right before halftime. There were three seconds left on the clock, and Gafford half-assed a challenge against a driving Dylan Harper on what turned into a three-point play that let the air out of the Mavs’ tires before the break. San Antonio led 68-60 at the break.
But May went back to Gafford to start the third quarter, and he immediately blocked Wembanyama’s fading attempt in transition a minute into the second half. He was much more active on both ends against the Spurs than he was a season ago. His patter and chemistry with de Larrea reminded me almost of the way he played off of … never mind, I don’t want to invoke that name.
Down the stretch
The effort from this rag-tag bunch of Mavericks was admirable, but you always felt like the Spurs were lying in wait, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. They marshaled the necessary firepower, but wouldn’t stop playing with their food.
Two-way signee Walter Clayton Jr. knocked down a nice little side-step 3-pointer early in the frame to cut the Spurs’ lead to 103-94. But from there, the Spurs took control over the last 8:30 of the game. The shorthanded Mavs simply ran out of gas. The game became one of those losses with a lot of good takeaways after San Antonio put together an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to extend the lead to 115-96.
The Spurs held the Mavs to just seven points in the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter to turn a surprisingly close game into a messy mathematical blowout late. Washington, Gafford and Marcus Sasser chipped in 12 points apiece for Dallas in the loss, while Wembanyama finished with a game-high 23 points and seven boards for San Antonio in the win.
