SAN ANTONIO -- Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle found plenty of positives in his teams performance against San Antonio. His counterpart, Gregg Popovich, could not stomach the Spurs awful and pathetic play.Oh, by the way, San Antonio won.Kawhi Leonard had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Spurs escaped with a 96-91 victory over the struggling Mavericks on Monday night for their sixth straight win.Dallas (2-11) is off to its worst start since 1993-1994, when the Mavericks opened 1-23 in a 13-win season. But they put a scare in San Antonio, which had to keep Leonard on the floor for much of the fourth quarter.This was a pathetic performance on the part of the Spurs, Popovich said in a 30-second postgame interview. You know, they had some guys out, we had some guys out, but they had a lot more out than we did. I thought we showed a lack of humility, a lack of respect for the opponent, a very pathetic performance at both ends of the court. It was an awful performance. Oh, and they deserved to win the basketball game, I forgot to say that.Dallas almost did.With the Mavericks trailing 92-91, Harrison Barnes missed a step-back 17-footer with 15 seconds left that Manu Ginobili rebounded before being fouled. Ginobili hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to three, and Seth Curry missed a 3-pointer with 6 seconds remaining.Curry matched a career high with 23 points, shooting 5 for 10 on 3s. Barnes and Wesley Matthews each had 20 points in the Mavericks sixth consecutive loss.Its tough, but the guys were fighting their (rear ends) off and theres a lot of positives, Carlisle said. Weve got to build on positives.San Antonio has won six straight against Dallas and 12 in a row at home.The once-heated rivalry between the Texas teams has cooled considerably with the Spurs sustained success and the Mavericks injuries and free-agent troubles.Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki and starting point guard Deron Williams both missed the game with injuries. San Antonio starters LaMarcus Aldridge and Tony Parker were in uniform but neither played as Popovich opted to rest his veterans.Spurs rookies Dejounte Murray and Davis Bertans made their first starts in place of Parker and Aldridge, respectively, and fellow rookie Bryn Forbes also saw extended playing time early.Barnes took advantage of the inexperience, making all but one of his six attempts in scoring 10 points in the opening quarter.Dallas shot 8 for 27 on 3s.I think we really did an awful lot of good things, Carlisle said. Theres going to be missed shots, but it was one of our better shooting nights this season so far, so thats a positive.The Spurs enjoyed greater success when their veterans took the court.We let ourselves down in terms of bringing the energy and effort that we usually are pretty solid at, said Spurs reserve Patty Mills, who had 17 points. I dont think we were consistent throughout tonight. We win them together and we lose them together. We get better together.Leonard drove the lane and dropped a bounce pass between Dwight Powell and Dorian Finney-Smith that David Lee dunked ahead of a foul by Salah Mejri to pare the lead to 63-62. After Ginobili missed a 3-pointer, Lee tipped out the rebound to Mills for a 3 that gave San Antonio a 68-65 lead.Dallas had eight turnovers in the fourth quarter, which resulted in 12 points for San Antonio.Pau Gasol added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs.TIP-INSMavericks: Nowitzki (strained right Achilles), Williams (strained left calf) and G Jose Juan Barrera (strained left calf) did not travel with the team. ... The last undrafted player to score 26 points in his first or second game prior to the Mavericks Jonathan Gibson doing so Saturday in Orlando was Spurs guard and New York playground legend Lloyd Daniels. He had 26 points on Nov. 7, 1992, at Denver. Both players hit the mark in their second game. ... Curry also had 23 points Nov. 8 in a 109-97 victory at the Los Angeles Lakers.Spurs: Leonard has scored in double figures in 48 straight games, the longest streak of his career. He is 95 for 100 on free throws this season. ... Gasol has played 37,565 career minutes, moving him past Clyde Drexler (37,537) for 49th in NBA history. ... G Nico Laprovittola missed the game with what Popovich described as a tooth-extraction thingy. ... The Spurs have established the longest home winning streak in series history. Dallas won 11 straight matchups at home from 1986-89.WINNING WAYSPopovich became the second-fastest coach to 1,100 career wins, doing so in 1,588 games. Phil Jackson collected his 1,100th victory in 1,560 games with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. Popovich is the seventh coach in NBA history with 1,100 wins.INJURIES MOUNTMavericks players have missed 31 games due to injury this season. Devin Harris (12), Nowitzki (nine) and Williams (six) have all missed at least a half dozen. Barnes said Dallas doesnt believe a return to health will cure all that ails the team on the court.We just have to stay vigilant and just continue to keep fighting the way we do, Barnes said. We just cant assume once we get Player X, Player Y, Player Z, the wins will start falling in place. Weve just got to keep plugging away.UP NEXTMavericks: Host the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.Spurs: At the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday. Wholesale Shoes Black Friday . Despite dominating possession, Schalke needed an own goal from Nicolas Hoefler for the breakthrough a minute before the interval. The Freiburg midfielder misjudged Jefferson Farfans corner and bundled the ball into his own net. Shoes Black Friday Deals 2020 . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. https://www.cheapshoesblackfriday.com/ . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. China Shoes Black Friday .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does. Fake Shoes Black Friday . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed. Conferences, rather than divisions, may be the answer to the ICC impasse over the future structure of Test cricket, allowing a two-year build to a championship playoff without dividing the game into haves and have-nots.The concept of a conference-based split among 12 Test-playing nations - allowing room for the likes of Afghanistan or Ireland - was discussed in some detail at the recent ICC chief executives committee (CEC) meeting in Cape Town, after the idea of two divisions was struck down by the objections of some nations including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.Their chief reason for opposition was worry about the thought of being consigned to a second tier of Test cricket, after fighting for many years to earn their way into Full Member status and its assorted playing and financial benefits. However there was also opposition to simply letting the present system of bilateral series stand untouched.Under the conference proposal, alternately-ranked teams would be grouped in separate conferences, down to teams placed 11 and 12. This would then mean that all six teams in each conference would play each other in at least one series over two years, with the possibility of one or two crossover series against teams from the other conference also available, as happens in Major League Baseball.At the end of the competition - to be completed with a Test Championship playoff between the two conference winners - the two groups would be reshuffled for the next edition, meaning all nations would play each other every six years.Among the more radical elements of the concept is that this championship would be the only Test cricket played, ruling out the possibility of icon series such as the Ashes being played outside the structure.dddddddddddd. While theyre icon [sic] and big series, its just not quite the same, a source close to the meetings told ESPNcricinfo. Theres also a feeling were playing enough cricket. We dont want to play more cricket.Member nations are said to be warming to this context far more than two-division cricket, as it removes the political hurdle of some teams having to submit to an inferior level of Test cricket. The only compromise in terms of opponents will be the amount of matches played within a given series - Ashes contests would remain played over five Tests, while lower profile encounters would be able to be played over a lesser length, most likely a minimum of two Tests.That flexibility means there will need to be further discussion of the best structure for awarding points for match and series wins. If theres 30 points available for a series and you play a five-match series, you might get six points a match, and if it is a two-match series it might be 15 points a match, the source said. That sort of thing needs to be further explored.League structures for ODI and Twenty20 matches remain on course, while a detailed, theoretical Test schedule is now being prepared, ahead of the ICCs formal meetings in February next year.Other matters, such as the internal wrangling at the BCCI and also the concurrent work on a revised governance model for the ICC board, may yet have some influence on events. The push for a pooled television rights deal is also ongoing, while the ICC is working on arranging a meeting between the BCCI and the IOC about crickets inclusion for the Olympics. ' ' '
