Mavs sprint past San Antonio 105-92

The verbal bouquets were tossed from one side to the other beforehand. Aren’t the Mavericks and Spurs supposed to be bitter rivals?

“They’re a great basketball team and arguably the best team in the league,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said of the Mavs. “They’re going to be there in the hunt for a championship. I don’t know what else to say about them.”

Funny, Dallas coach Avery Johnson also called the defending champs the best team in the league. The debate wasn’t decided Thursday night, but the Mavs did prevail with a resounding 105-92 victory before a packed American Airlines Center.

The Mavs (6-2) closed the gap against San Antonio (7-2) in the Southwest Division, but few are worried about the standings now. The mental angle of such as win may also be overstated.

“We don’t get surprised when we beat anybody,” Jerry Stackhouse said. “We surprised when we lose. We definitely respect San Antonio, but we don’t hold them with as much respect as ya’ll do. They’re the champions to ya’ll. We didn’t get to compete against them last year.”

Stackhouse wasn’t ranting. And he did remind those with cameras, recorders and notebooks that the Spurs own the “hardware.” Stackhouse and the rest of the Mavs made the point of not getting carried away with a November win.

“It’s just another game early on in the season against a great team, the defending champions,” Jason Terry said. “But we did what we had to do at home and we’ve got to see them three more times.”

The Mavs, though, aren’t going to sell their performance short. Dirk Nowitzki filled up the box score again. Devin Harris out-Parkered Tony Parker. Josh Howard went for 23 points. Tim Duncan didn’t go crazy.

The Mavs got off to a quick start thanks to their quick hands. They may have knocked away more passes and had more strips in the first seven minutes than the first seven games.

“We were pretty active defensively early,” Johnson said.