Dusty May says the short-handed Mavericks ‘ran out of gas’ against the Spurs after he gave rookie Sergio de Larrea 33 minutes

Dallas Mavericks coach Dusty May said his short-handed team “probably ran out of gas late” in a 122-106 home-opening loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, October 24, a night when his answer to two missing stars was to hand 33 minutes to a rookie who had barely played. Dallas is 1-2, and the way the fourth quarter went shows how thin the margin is without Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving.

Flagg sat with a left shoulder sprain confirmed by an MRI, and Irving was held out on the second night of a back-to-back to manage his left knee. The Mavericks had won at Indiana 121-105 a night earlier, the first win of May’s NBA career, and both teams arrived tired.

A rotation built around the rookie

Before tipoff May said the game was about who was available, not who was missing, and that younger players would get more time than usual. He started Naji Marshall at the point with Max Christie, Zaccharie Risacher, P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, then went early to Sergio de Larrea, the 25th pick in the draft, who checked in with 6:56 left in the first quarter.

De Larrea played 33:02, more than anyone on the team except Washington, and led Dallas with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 3 of 4 from deep, with five rebounds and four assists. Marcus Sasser added 12 points and five assists in 26:41, and Walter Clayton Jr. had five assists in 14:30. The bench supplied most of the scoring, while the starting group struggled: Christie went 2 of 9 and finished minus-22, and Marshall left with 8:28 to play in the third quarter and did not come back.

May called the rookie’s night a good one against an opponent like San Antonio, though he said in hindsight he would have liked to get de Larrea more catches instead of asking him to start the offense against Stephon Castle’s pressure. His preferred setup, he said, is several ball handlers in the second unit.

Where it slipped away

The small lineups pulled Dallas back from a 14-point third-quarter hole to an 85-84 lead, but San Antonio matched them each time and finished the period ahead. The Spurs then won the fourth quarter 30-17 and stretched the lead to 23. Over the night they had 15 offensive rebounds to Dallas’s eight and 12 steals, and May pointed to the ball pressure: “There’s not a lot of ways to alleviate pressure against San Antonio,” he said, adding that his team needs a tighter plan for who brings the ball up.

One thing is working. May won another coach’s challenge on Saturday and is 5 for 5 on them through three games, according to reportssite.

What comes next

The Mavericks travel to face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Miami Heat at 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday, October 26, with no update yet on whether Irving returns. Flagg is set to be re-evaluated next week. Follow it in the Mavericks-Heat Game Center, and the two Texas teams meet again on November 4 in San Antonio.