Takeaway: Gafford, Lively piled up the productivity against Spurs

Between the two of them, Dallas Mavericks centers Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II enjoyed their most proficient game of the season during Saturday’s 110-93 triumph over the San Antonio Spurs.

The duo combined for 29 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks against the Spurs. The other top-level production games from Gafford and Lively this season came when they combined for 29 points and 19 rebounds on Nov. 3 against Orlando, 27 points, 14 rebounds and one blocked shot last Tuesday against Golden State, 24 points, 17 rebounds and one blocked shots in the Oct. 24 season opener against San Antonio, and 23 points,11 rebounds and six blocks on Oct. 28 against Utah.

In Saturday’s game, Gafford tallied a season-high 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked three shots, while Lively added seven points, four rebounds and four blocks. The points from Gafford are the most off the bench by any Mavs player this season.

“They both played well as starters, and they both played well off the bench,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We’ll see how D-Live handles these next couple of games as a starter, and we’ll figure out who’s going to start after that.

“But D-Live has been great, Gaff has been great.”

Gafford has averaged 12.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 20.7 minutes while starting the first 11 games of the season. Lively is averaging 8.9 points, seven rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 22.2 minutes while starting the past two games.

“They both have sacrificed, they both have started,” Kidd said. “If it was the 80’s we would play them both at the same time.

“But unfortunately, it’s not the 80’s, so only one can play and right now D-Live is the starter.”

Here are the takeaways from the 17-point win over the Spurs.

SURGE IN THE THIRD QUARTER: Although the Mavs held a 55-51 lead at halftime, the game lacked any type of energy at that point. Then came the third quarter. That’s when the Mavs and the crowd were all energized. In the explosive game-changing third quarter, the Mavs out-scored the Spurs, 38-18. Dallas was 13-of-21 from the field with eight assists in the third quarter, when they also held the Spurs to 5-of-22 shooting from the field and 1-of-6 shooting from downtown.

REBOUNDS MADE THE DIFFERENCE: Struggling with rebounding issues for most of this season, that certainly wasn’t the case for the Mavs against the Spurs. Behind a game-high eight rebounds from guard Kyrie Irving and seven more from center Daniel Gafford, the Mavs outrebounded the Spurs, 53-45. Add 13 offensive rebounds into the mix, and the Mavs out-scored the Spurs in second-chance points, 24-14.

IRVING FILLED THE STAT SHEET: Mavs guard Kyrie Irving quietly turned in one of those all-around games for the ages where he filled up the stat sheet. In doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that, Irving scored a game-high tying 22 points, collected a game-high eight rebounds and distributed a game-high tying six assists. He also picked up a game-high tying two steals. Irving was 9-of-15 from the field, including 2-of-6 from three-point range.

X: @DwainPrice