Dallas finds the fight too late as Wembanyama’s 52 holds up

What changed

Dallas spent one half looking overwhelmed and the next half showing why this game was there to steal. The Mavericks erased a 19-point deficit, took a 103-100 lead with 5:36 left and still had the ball down one after Victor Wembanyama split two free throws with 24.2 seconds remaining.

The last chance ended with Kyrie Irving missing a contested turnaround jumper. Irving said he liked the look but did not have his legs underneath him, while Dusty May said Dallas probably began its attack too late. The miss sealed a 112-111 loss and a second straight defeat.

Wembanyama made the margin for error almost nonexistent: 52 points, 24 rebounds and eight blocks, including 29 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks before halftime. San Antonio shot only 5-of-36 from three, but it won the foul-line margin 33-19, grabbed 22 offensive rebounds and scored 62 points in the paint.

Dallas’s response was real. Cooper Flagg recovered from a 1-of-11 first half to make 6 of 8 after halftime, and the Mavericks finished with 29 assists against only eight turnovers. But Naji Marshall’s own verdict was the right one: needing desperation to rediscover the team’s intended identity is not a habit worth celebrating.

Interpretation: the comeback showed Dallas can change a game with pace, small lineups and connected effort. The problem is that those tools arrived after San Antonio had already dictated the physical terms. Against elite size, the next step is beginning with that urgency instead of spending a half trying to recover it.