San Antonio @ Dallas preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 10, 2019 ) Dallas 94, San Antonio 105

The San Antonio Spurs are mired in their longest losing streak in more than eight years and they'll try to end it Monday while visiting a Dallas Mavericks team coming off perhaps its best win of the season. The Spurs responded briefly to head coach Gregg Popovich's ejection in the third quarter before fading in the fourth in a 121-116 loss to Portland at home Saturday night.

It was the fifth straight defeat and seventh in an eight-game span for San Antonio, which is beginning a four-game road trip Monday. "We've got to play the way we played after Pop got kicked out the full game," Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan told reporters of a surge that put his team up six points late in the third. "Fighting against bad calls, so many things out there, we just listened, went out there and played hard." The Mavericks outscored the defending champion Toronto Raptors by 15 points in the second half en route to a 110-102 win Saturday. Luka Doncic fell three assists shy of his sixth triple-double and Kristaps Porzingis had 20 points and 15 rebounds in the victory.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, KENS 5 (San Antonio), FS Southwest (Dallas)

ABOUT THE SPURS (5-8): The Popovich ejection gave San Antonio legend Tim Duncan a chance to call the shots, with help from fellow assistants Becky Hammon and Will Hardy. "It was cool," guard Bryn Forbes told reporters of Duncan's cameo in the lead role. "It didn't really feel like a huge difference. I think he did a good job. He took control. He helped lead us to a big lead." Big man LaMarcus Aldridge, who had a team-high 32 double-doubles last season, finally picked up his first in 2019-20 with 30 points and 13 rebounds Saturday.

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (7-5): Dallas limited Toronto to 42 second-half points Saturday night and kept Pascal Siakam, the Raptors' leading scorer, to 15 points total on 6-of-24 shooting. "A great win," Doncic told reporters. "We did a great job on Pascal Siakam. [Forward Maxi Kleber] did a great job especially." Delon Wright provided a big boost off the bench with 15 points and three steals in just 19 minutes.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Spurs SF Rudy Gay is averaging 14.5 points and six rebounds in 23.3 minutes over his last four games.

2. Mavericks SG Tim Hardaway Jr. is 9-for-32 from the floor over a three-game span.

3. DeRozan averaged 25 points and seven assists as San Antonio swept four meetings last season.

PREDICTION: Mavericks 114, Spurs 110