Winning start for Rondo as Mavs beat Spurs

Winning start for Rondo as Mavs beat Spurs

DALLAS - 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 also had seven rebounds for the Mavericks, who snapped a 10-game regular-season losing streak to the reigning National Basketball Association champions.

Point guard Rondo was acquired from the Boston Celtics in a blockbuster trade three days ago in exchange for Jameer Nelson, Brandan Wright, a first-round pick, and Jae Crowder, 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 their 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 per cent in the fourth quarter. Many of their top players sat out Saturday's game after losing back-to-back triple-overtime games on Wednesday and Thursday.

They were missing Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and Tiago Splitter. Tony Parker (hamstring injury) and Kawhi Leonard (hand injury) also did not play for the Spurs.

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