For the first time in franchise history, the San Antonio Spurs have gone through a stretch in which they've lost 22 of 23 games. A 144-119 loss at the Dallas Mavericks is the latest in a string that dates back to Nov. 5.

Luka Doncic scored a game-high 33 when the two teams met in the season opener and went for 39 this time around while recording his 62nd career triple-double. The sixth-year guard added 12 rebounds and 10 assists for the 17-12 Mavs.

Jeremy Sochan paced the Spurs with team highs in points, with 23 on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range, and nine rebounds.

No Wemby for Spurs

The Spurs lost star Victor Wembanyama before the game.

In and of itself, that wasn't big news considering Wemby was dealing with a sore right ankle that forced him to miss Tuesday's game at the Milwaukee Bucks. The top overall pick in this past June's draft was set to play Saturday night in Dallas, though.

That is, until he stepped baseline and slightly rolled that right ankle on the foot of a Mavericks ball boy.

“He was warming up and he came down on a ball boy's foot and tweaked his ankle again,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Maybe he could've played. He probably could've played. If it was a playoff game, I probably would've played him. He's not happy about it, but I would rather err on the conservative side since it's the same ankle that he just got time limitation on, but just a freak, freak accident before the game.”

The incident happened not during the pregame warmups that directly precede the game but in the hour or so before tip-off when players usually hone aspects of their individual games on a less-crowded court.

The star rookie was coming off, statistically, his poorest performance early in his career against the Chicago Bulls in just 22 minutes of action, which were the second-fewest he had played so far. The Mavericks loss marked the third DNP of Wembanyama's rookie season.

Keldon Johnson off the bench

With Wemby out of the lineup, Zach Collins started. That moved Keldon Johnson to the bench for the first time this season. In fact, it marked the first time Johnson played but didn't start since two seasons ago, when he opened 74 of those 75 games. He also started all but two of the 69 games in which he played in 2020-2021.

Johnson is the team's third-leading scorer at 17.2 points per game. He nearly reached that in just 23 minutes against the Mavs with 16 points.

KJ led the Spurs in scoring last season, averaging 22 points per game.

Spurs' third-quarter woes continue

Going into the third quarter, the Spurs only trailed the Mavericks by six points, 72-66. By the time period ended, the deficit had grown from six to 31, 117-86.

It's the latest in a string of terrible third quarters for the Silver and Black.

The only third quarter San Antonio has ‘won' this month came in, not coincidentally, the only game the team won in the span, a Dec. 15 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers that snapped an 18-game losing streak. The third-quarter struggles persisted throughout that losing streak and beyond for the 4-24 Spurs.