P.J. Washington blocked Dylan Harper’s 2-foot running layup with 1:49 left, and Dallas still did not have the ball. Victor Wembanyama collected the loose rebound and tipped in the shot at 1:47, stretching San Antonio’s lead from 109-108 to 111-108. The block was real. So was the problem afterward: Dallas had defended the shot but had not ended the possession.
That sequence sat at the center of the Mavericks’ 112-111 loss Wednesday at Frost Bank Center. San Antonio finished with 22 offensive rebounds, four more than Dallas, and Wembanyama claimed nine of them. The Spurs did not need every one to become points. They needed enough to keep Dallas from turning solid defensive work into a completed stop.
The earlier warning arrived at 2:45. Stephon Castle missed a 25-foot three, and Wembanyama secured the offensive rebound. At 2:39, he scored on a two-point shot for a 109-106 San Antonio advantage.
The initial miss had done part of Dallas’ job. The Mavericks then had to account for the player who had already produced 52 points and 24 rebounds, and the second chance gave him another brief opportunity near the basket.
Kyrie Irving answered with a 10-foot jumper at 2:30, pulling Dallas within one possession. Wembanyama then missed both free throws at 2:10, giving the Mavericks another opening. Irving missed a three at 1:58, though, and Castle secured the defensive rebound. Dallas had forced a miss, but its offense could not turn that chance into a lead before San Antonio’s next possession.
The Washington block was more dramatic because it appeared to preserve a one-point game. Harper’s layup was denied, yet Wembanyama was there for the rebound and immediate tip. San Antonio had not created a difficult late-clock shot or needed a complicated sequence. Its best rebounder simply kept the play alive after Dallas made the first defensive intervention.
The Spurs’ overall rebounding edge was not just Wembanyama’s doing. Stephon Castle had three offensive rebounds, Keldon Johnson had three and Devin Vassell had two. San Antonio grabbed 61 rebounds to Dallas’ 50, while the Mavericks also collected 18 offensive rebounds of their own.
This was not a night when Dallas ignored the glass entirely. The issue was that San Antonio’s extra chances arrived at especially damaging moments, and Wembanyama supplied the most punishing examples.
Dallas kept giving itself a chance because its offense improved sharply after halftime. The Mavericks trailed 68-51 at the break, then won the second half 60-44. Naji Marshall put up thirteen points in the final period and made all three of his fourth-quarter threes. His three from Cooper Flagg with 1:41 remaining tied the game at 111 after Wembanyama’s tip-in.
That comeback deserves credit, but it also makes the rebounding failure harder to dismiss. Dallas reached a 103-100 lead at 5:38, then Wembanyama answered with his only made three of the night 18 seconds later. The Mavericks were not overwhelmed by San Antonio’s perimeter shooting—the Spurs went 5-for-36 from three.
They were hurt by what happened closer to the rim, where San Antonio made 32 of 59 two-point attempts and finished with 62 points in the paint.
