Tony Parker hit the go ahead three pointer with a minute seven remaining in the game, but Parker was hitting from all over the floor on this night. Parker was 9-15 from the field and 4-4 from the three point line and led the Spurs in scoring with 23 points in nearly 35 minutes of playing time. The Mavericks Monta Ellis led all scorers with 26 points in a 101-100 Spurs thriller.
“It was a great basketball game, you can’t kick off the season with a better game than this for the fans — there’s no way,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “Unfortunately, the slim margins of winning and losing are all that anybody remembers. If we get one more stop one more basket than we’re all him here singing a different tune. That’s the world we live in the Western Conference.”
The Spurs began the night with the unveiling of the 2014 Championship Banner and Rings and ended with their 5th opening season victory in a row following a championship.
“It’s special,” Ginobili said. “I think it helps you actually. Sometimes you don’t play that sharp because it’s the first game of the season. You have to move from the success of the previous season to the new beginning. But it all gets your emotions up so you want to get out on the court and do a lot of things, hustle, jump, run and win.”
With the victory, Head Coach Gregg Popovich is now 17-1 in season opening games and leads all coaches in NBA history with that mark.