21st December, 2014
Rajon Rondo tallied six points and nine assists in his Dallas debut as he helped lead the Mavericks to a 99-93 win over the short-handed San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.
The four-time all-star Rondo also had seven rebounds for the Mavericks who snapped a 10 game regular season losing streak to the reigning NBA champions.
Point guard Rondo was acquired from the Boston Celtics in a blockbuster trade two days ago in exchange for Jameer Nelson, Brandan Wright and Jae Crowder, a first-round pick and a second-round pick.
Monta Ellis scored a game-high 38 points, Chandler Parsons added 16 points while Dirk Nowitzki and Devin Harris scored 13 points each as Dallas earned its third straight win.
Marco Belinelli led San Antonio with 21 points, Aron Baynes scored 16 with 10 rebounds and Cory Joseph and Matt Bonner each had 14 points.
The Spurs shot just 31 percent in the fourth quarter. They sat many of their top players Saturday after losing back-to-back triple-overtime games on Wednesday and Thursday.
Missing Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and Tiago Splitter, San Antonio scored 30 points in the third quarter and had a 77-75 lead going into the fourth.
They have lost four in a row for the first time in almost four years.
The Spurs beat the Mavericks opening night in San Antonio and had won 10 straight regular-season meetings.
The Spurs eliminated the Mavericks in seven games during the first round of the 2013-14 playoffs.
Tony Parker (hamstring) and Kawhi Leonard (hand) also didn’t play for the Spurs.