Castle's 40-point triple-double fuels surging Spurs past Mavericks for 4th straight victory

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — San Antonio guard Stephon Castle had a career-high 40 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists for his second career triple-double, leading the Spurs past the Dallas Mavericks 138-125 on Saturday.

Devin Vassell had 17 points and Victor Wembanyama added 16 points and 11 rebounds for San Antonio, which set a season high for points in a half with 81 before halftime.

The Spurs (36-16) won their fourth straight and ninth in 12 games to remain second in the Western Conference.

Dallas, which lost 135-123 at San Antonio on Thursday night, got 19 points from Klay Thompson, 18 from Brandon Williams and 17 from Max Christie. Cooper Flagg finished with 14 points.

Castle joins Hall of Famer David Robinson as the only Spurs in franchise history with a 40-point triple-double.

The second-year guard from Connecticut punctuated his triple-double by following up a miss with a windmill dunk that put San Antonio up 129-108 with 6:26 remaining.

Castle’s first triple-double was Nov. 12, 2025, against the Golden State Warriors when he had 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 125-120 loss the Golden State Warriors.

Marvin Bagley III, A.J. Johnson and Tyus Jones all debuted for Dallas. Bagley and Johnson were acquired in a trade that sent Anthony Davis to Washington and Jones was part of a subsequent deal with Charlotte for Malaki Branham.

Bagley had an immediate impact, scoring eight points in his first five minutes off the bench while powering down two dunks and blocking shots by Vassell and Harrison Barnes.

Bagley finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

San Antonio will not play in the Frost Bank Center again until March 5 as they embark on their annual Rodeo Road Trip. The Spurs will play two games in Austin during that road trip that are considered home games.

Mavericks: At Phoenix on Tuesday night.

Timberwolves: At Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.

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San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell (24) goes to the basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) scores over Dallas Mavericks forward Klay Thompson during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet (7) drives against Dallas Mavericks forward Marvin Bagley III during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

Dallas Mavericks forward Marvin Bagley III (35) dunks during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) goes to the basket against Dallas Mavericks guard Max Christie (00) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

HOUSTON (AP) — Their dramatic grand finale fast approaching, Artemis II’s astronauts aimed for a splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out humanity’s first voyage to the moon in more than a half-century.

The tension in Mission Control mounted as the miles melted away between the four returning astronauts and Earth.

All eyes were on the capsule’s life-protecting heat shield that has to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry. On the spacecraft's only other test flight — in 2022, with no one on board — the shield’s charred exterior came back looking as pockmarked as the moon.

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen were on track to hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 — or 33 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since NASA’s Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s.

They didn’t plan on taking manual control except in an emergency. Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, is completely self-flying.

Like so many others, lead flight director Jeff Radigan anticipated feeling some of that “irrational fear that is human nature,” especially during the six minutes of communication blackout preceding the opening of the parachutes. The recovery ship USS John P. Murtha awaited the crew's arrival off the coast of San Diego, along with a squadron of military planes and helicopters.

The last time NASA and the Defense Department teamed up for a lunar crew's reentry was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II was projected to come screaming back at 36,170 feet (11,025 meters) per second — or 24,661 mph (39,668 kph) — just shy of the record before slowing to a 19 mph (30 kph) splashdown.

Launched from Florida on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another as they deftly navigated NASA’s long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.

Artemis II didn't land on the moon or even orbit it. But it broke Apollo 13's distance record and marked the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when the crew reached 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). Then in the mission's most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman's late wife, Carroll.

During Monday's record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes of the moon's far side never seen before by the human eye along with a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular, “just blew all of us away,” Glover said.

Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channeled Apollo 8's first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968.

“It just makes you want to continue to go back,” Radigan said on the eve of splashdown. “It's the first of many trips and we just need to continue on because there’s so much” more to learn about the moon.

Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain's King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick “Project Hail Mary”; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV’s original “Star Trek.”

Despite its rich scientific yield, the nearly 10-day flight was not without technical issues. Both the capsule’s drinking water and propellant systems were hit with valve problems. In perhaps the most high-profile predicament, the toilet kept malfunctioning, but the astronauts shrugged it all off.

“We can’t explore deeper unless we are doing a few things that are inconvenient,” Koch said, “unless we’re making a few sacrifices, unless we’re taking a few risks, and those things are all worth it.”

Added Hansen: “You do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space and it’s a doozy.”

Under the revamped Artemis program, next year’s Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon’s south pole in 2028.

The Artemis II astronauts' allegiance was to those future crews, Wiseman said.

“But we really hoped in our soul is that we could for just for a moment have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted,” he said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

In this image from video provided by NASA, the Artemis II Orion capsule, right, separates from the service module above the Earth in preparation for splash down in the Pacific Ocean. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew, counterclockwise from top left, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover pose with eclipse viewers during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew photographed the Moons curved limb during their journey around the far side of the Moon on April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew photographed a bright portion of the Moon on April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew captured this view as the Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)