SAN ANTONIO -- Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle found plenty of positives in his teams performance against San Antonio. His counterpart, Gregg Popovich, could not stomach the Spurs awful and pathetic play.Oh, by the way, San Antonio won.Kawhi Leonard had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Spurs escaped with a 96-91 victory over the struggling Mavericks on Monday night for their sixth straight win.Dallas (2-11) is off to its worst start since 1993-1994, when the Mavericks opened 1-23 in a 13-win season. But they put a scare in San Antonio, which had to keep Leonard on the floor for much of the fourth quarter.This was a pathetic performance on the part of the Spurs, Popovich said in a 30-second postgame interview. You know, they had some guys out, we had some guys out, but they had a lot more out than we did. I thought we showed a lack of humility, a lack of respect for the opponent, a very pathetic performance at both ends of the court. It was an awful performance. Oh, and they deserved to win the basketball game, I forgot to say that.Dallas almost did.With the Mavericks trailing 92-91, Harrison Barnes missed a step-back 17-footer with 15 seconds left that Manu Ginobili rebounded before being fouled. Ginobili hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to three, and Seth Curry missed a 3-pointer with 6 seconds remaining.Curry matched a career high with 23 points, shooting 5 for 10 on 3s. Barnes and Wesley Matthews each had 20 points in the Mavericks sixth consecutive loss.Its tough, but the guys were fighting their (rear ends) off and theres a lot of positives, Carlisle said. Weve got to build on positives.San Antonio has won six straight against Dallas and 12 in a row at home.The once-heated rivalry between the Texas teams has cooled considerably with the Spurs sustained success and the Mavericks injuries and free-agent troubles.Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki and starting point guard Deron Williams both missed the game with injuries. San Antonio starters LaMarcus Aldridge and Tony Parker were in uniform but neither played as Popovich opted to rest his veterans.Spurs rookies Dejounte Murray and Davis Bertans made their first starts in place of Parker and Aldridge, respectively, and fellow rookie Bryn Forbes also saw extended playing time early.Barnes took advantage of the inexperience, making all but one of his six attempts in scoring 10 points in the opening quarter.Dallas shot 8 for 27 on 3s.I think we really did an awful lot of good things, Carlisle said. Theres going to be missed shots, but it was one of our better shooting nights this season so far, so thats a positive.The Spurs enjoyed greater success when their veterans took the court.We let ourselves down in terms of bringing the energy and effort that we usually are pretty solid at, said Spurs reserve Patty Mills, who had 17 points. I dont think we were consistent throughout tonight. We win them together and we lose them together. We get better together.Leonard drove the lane and dropped a bounce pass between Dwight Powell and Dorian Finney-Smith that David Lee dunked ahead of a foul by Salah Mejri to pare the lead to 63-62. After Ginobili missed a 3-pointer, Lee tipped out the rebound to Mills for a 3 that gave San Antonio a 68-65 lead.Dallas had eight turnovers in the fourth quarter, which resulted in 12 points for San Antonio.Pau Gasol added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs.TIP-INSMavericks: Nowitzki (strained right Achilles), Williams (strained left calf) and G Jose Juan Barrera (strained left calf) did not travel with the team. ... The last undrafted player to score 26 points in his first or second game prior to the Mavericks Jonathan Gibson doing so Saturday in Orlando was Spurs guard and New York playground legend Lloyd Daniels. He had 26 points on Nov. 7, 1992, at Denver. Both players hit the mark in their second game. ... Curry also had 23 points Nov. 8 in a 109-97 victory at the Los Angeles Lakers.Spurs: Leonard has scored in double figures in 48 straight games, the longest streak of his career. He is 95 for 100 on free throws this season. ... Gasol has played 37,565 career minutes, moving him past Clyde Drexler (37,537) for 49th in NBA history. ... G Nico Laprovittola missed the game with what Popovich described as a tooth-extraction thingy. ... The Spurs have established the longest home winning streak in series history. Dallas won 11 straight matchups at home from 1986-89.WINNING WAYSPopovich became the second-fastest coach to 1,100 career wins, doing so in 1,588 games. Phil Jackson collected his 1,100th victory in 1,560 games with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. Popovich is the seventh coach in NBA history with 1,100 wins.INJURIES MOUNTMavericks players have missed 31 games due to injury this season. Devin Harris (12), Nowitzki (nine) and Williams (six) have all missed at least a half dozen. Barnes said Dallas doesnt believe a return to health will cure all that ails the team on the court.We just have to stay vigilant and just continue to keep fighting the way we do, Barnes said. We just cant assume once we get Player X, Player Y, Player Z, the wins will start falling in place. Weve just got to keep plugging away.UP NEXTMavericks: Host the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.Spurs: At the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday. Florida Panthers Pro Shop . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. Cheap Panthers Jerseys . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. https://www.panthersjerseycheap.com/ . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up. Custom Florida Panthers Jerseys . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. Panthers Jerseys 2021 . -- If Henry Burris has his way, he will be the starting quarterback to lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats back to the Grey Cup next year.The European Tour season reaches its climax at this weeks DP World Tour Championship, where four players have the chance of ending the season top of the Race to Dubai standings. Henrik Stenson, Danny Willett, Alex Noren and Rory McIlroy all head to Dubai with a chance of ending 2016 as Europes No 1, with a number of possible permutations set to determine who will take the honours.Open Champion Stenson extended his advantage over the chasing pack to 299,675 points with an eighth-place finish at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, a fortnight on from claiming a share of second at the WGC-HSBC and moving top of the standings. Willett and Stenson occupy the top two places in the standings Willett topped the Order of Merit for a large chunk of the season after winning the Masters in April, with a strong finish at Sun City last week keeping his hopes alive going in to the final event of the season.A fourth win of the campaign saw Alex Noren move inside the worlds top 10 and up in to third in the season-long standings, lifting him within 633,436 points of his Swedish counterpart. Rory McIlroy gives his prediction for who will win the Race to Dubai title McIlroy hasnt featured in either of the first two Final Series events and needs to retain his Dubai crown to have any chance of winning the Race to Dubai for a fourth time.Even if McIlroy does claim a fourth worldwide title of 2016 this week, the Northern Irishman would still need Stenson to miss out on the top 45, Willett to finish outside of the top five and Noren end up runner-up or better this week. McIlroy won last years season finale in Dubai to top the Race to Dubai standings A second trophy in as many weeks from Noren would leave Stenson needing to end runner-up to stay top of the standings. Noren can still top the standings with a runner-up finish, but only if Stenson ends the week ninth or worse and Willett doesnt claim a top-two.ddddddddddddWillett will win the Race to Dubai regardless of other results if he takes the DP World Tour Championship title, while a runner-up finish would be enough should Noren not claim victory and Stenson miss out a top two. Willett finished tied-11th in South Africa last week Heres a look at the other ways the Race to Dubai can be won and lost this week…• For Noren to win, he needs a minimum top-two finish. If he wins in Dubai, then Stenson can still win the Race to Dubai by finishing second.• If Noren finishes second, to win the Race to Dubai he needs Stenson to finish outside of the top eight and Willett outside of the top two. Noren claimed a six-shot win at Sun City • If Willett finishes fourth, Stenson needs to finish 30th or better to stay ahead of him.• If Willett finishes third, Stenson needs to end ninth or higher to remain ahead of him in the race.• If Willett finishes second, he wins the Race to Dubai if Stenson finishes outside the top two and Noren does not win. Live European Tour Golf November 17, 2016, 8:00am Live on Get Sky Sports Get a Sky Sports pass • If Willett wins the DP World Tour Championship, he also claims the Race to Dubai title• Stenson wins the Race to Dubai if none of the above scenarios take placeWho will win the Race to Dubai? Watch the DP World Tour Championship from November 17-20 live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf Live European Tour Golf November 18, 2016, 8:00am Live on Get Sky Sports Get a Sky Sports pass Upgrade to Sky Sports now to watch Man Utd v Arsenal this Saturday and get the first six months half price! Also See: 2015 recap: McIlroys title Norens Nedbank victory Nedbank shots of the week Golf live on Sky Sports ' ' '