The Mavericks unveiled their new ham-and-egg attack on opening night.
With a side of sizzling bacon called Klay Thompson.
The power threesome of Thompson, Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving combined for 65 points to lead the Mavericks to a 120-109 season-opening win over the San Antonio Spurs Thursday at American Airlines Center.
Thompson knocked in six three-pointers, the most ever for a Maverick in their debut for the franchise.
He finished with 22 points and the Mavericks got plenty of punch from Dončić with 28 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Irving had 15 points but didn’t have to set foot on the court in the fourth quarter.
And as impressive as it was, it was only the first of 82 steps the Mavericks must take just to get back to the playoffs.
“It’s one game,” Thompson said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Tonight was a great start. But I’m not satisfied. We have so much basketball ahead. You can never be too high through the regular season.
“We have really big goals. One good win at home is not going to satisfy any us. We want to be really, really good this year and get back to where they were at last year.”
He saw his first bucket from midrange rattle around the hoop and drop through. Then he nailed a three-pointer on a quick release from the corner and the hot shooting was on. He finished hitting six of 10 from beyond the arc.
“The feelings were a lot of nerves, anxiousness. But after a few minutes, you see one go through, you feel great,” Thompson said. “A great debut. It’s only one game in October, but it feels good to get the first one out of the way. And setting a record is always a great feeling and something I’ll never take for granted.”
The Mavericks took charge of the game in the third quarter. A season opener that was like many season openers – not particularly sharp, but entertaining nonetheless – turned in their favor with something that surely brought a smile to Jason Kidd’s face.
Their defense.
Forcing turnovers on three consecutive San Antonio possessions in the third quarter, the Mavericks broke open a three-point game, went up by 14 and that gave them enough cushion to fend off any Spurs’ push the rest of the way.
“It was a good team performance,” Kidd said. “That first half, anxious, excited. Defensively we were good to be able to keep us close. That second half, Luka and Kai and Klay, being able to pick up full court, we got some deflections and steals. Our defense helped us win this game as much as (scoring) 120 points. Good team win we can build from. We got a lot to learn.”
As Thompson added about the defense: “It was incredible, especially starting that second half, picking up full court, causing some turnovers. I thought that swayed the game in our favor.”
Not that the Mavericks are a finished product by any stretch. They did not shoot particularly well (41.2 percent), but they did get hot in the second half to make their three-point accuracy look great (43.2 percent).
“I think we can play a lot better than that,” said Dončić. “It’s our first game together. It’s going to take time to get used to it, which is normal. I’m very excited for the whole season.
“I was terrible. I was rusty the whole first half. The third quarter, it kind of opened up. The legs were back.”
It was Luka’s first competitive game since he played with Slovenia in the Olympic qualifying tournament in July. He missed all of the preseason.
What the opener was, more than anything, was an excellent example of how the power threesome in the backcourt can divvy up the scoring.
Not to be left out was Dereck Lively II, who faired quite well against Spurs’ star Victor Wembanyama with 15 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
Wembanyama, the second-year center and reigning rookie of the year, had trouble getting jump-started offensively, missing six three-pointers before finally making one.
He would finish with 13 points and nine rebounds.
The Mavericks went from ahead 56-53 to up 69-55 with their third-quarter defensive grit. The Spurs stuck close. The Mavericks were up 87-80 going into the fourth quarter.
When Luka nailed a three-pointer and the Spurs inexplicably left Thompson wide-open enough to take a dribble and line up a three-pointer on the next possession, the Mavericks were back up by 14 at 97-83.
The opening night results looked nothing like what the Mavericks expect two, three or six months from now. Smooth operators, they were not.
But it was a positive start, especially for Thompson.
Even San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, who has coached Thompson on the U.S. men’s national team, said he thought the fit for Thompson and the Mavericks was perfect.
When asked before the game about his initial reaction to the Mavericks getting Thompson, Popovich said: “Oh my God, how did they do that.”
He was embellishing a bit, but he did say that he followed that up by having a second glass of wine, but not in celebration.
At any rate, the anticipation was high for everybody when it came to seeing the new Mavericks’ product for the first time.
It was not always pretty. But that’s what happens in most season openers.
But the final score certainly was a thing of beauty for the Mavericks.
X: @ESefko
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