Mavs vs. Thunder GAMEDAY: 'Resilient' Doncic, Dallas Seek Consecutive Wins
After coming off a thrilling 129-125 overtime victory against Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets on the road, the Dallas Mavericks return home to the American Airlines Center to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Dallas is seeking consecutive wins for the first time this season while Oklahoma City is looking to win its third consecutive game after beating the Los Angeles Clippers two games in a row.
Luka Doncic is on a crazy pace after just four games, as he's averaging a league-leading 36.3 points in 35.9 minutes per game. He's also averaging 9.5 rebounds, 9.3 assists and two steals per game while shooting 50 percent from the field and 86.1 percent from the free-throw line. Although Doncic is scoring at will, he's also finding ways to keep his teammates fully involved as well. He found Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber and Reggie Bullock for three consecutive 3s in overtime against the Nets to essentially seal the win.
“They’re getting wide-open looks," said coach Jason Kidd of the Mavs' role players. "(Luka) has a lot of attention on him, and he knows how to keep two or three (guys) on him at a time and being able to pass and trust that his guys are going to knock down shots.”
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on a pretty impressive pace himself through four games, as he's averaging 29.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 47.8 percent from the field, including 41.2 percent from deep. OKC will be shorthanded without Josh Giddey and a few other players, but as we found out in New Orleans earlier this week, that might not matter if the Mavs don't give their opponent proper respect.
Here's everything you need to know before tonight's game.
WHAT TO WATCH: Can the Mavs tighten up their defense after two games of slippage?
In their first two games of the season, the Mavs gave up an average of 101.5 points per game. In their last two games, they've given up an average of 119 points per game. At the offensive pace Doncic is currently playing at, Dallas will be able to overcome some of its defensive slip-ups on some nights. However, if the Mavs want to win games comfortably and not risk running Doncic into the ground by season's end, they'd be wise to find a way to stop the bleeding on the defensive end.
INJURY REPORT (DALLAS): Dāvis Bertans (right knee effusion) is OUT. Frank Ntilikina (right ankle effusion) is OUT.
INJURY REPORT (OKC): Josh Giddey (right ankle sprain) is OUT. Chet Holmgren (right foot surgery) is OUT. Jalen Williams (right orbital fracture) is available.
RECORDS: Dallas Mavericks (2-2), Oklahoma City Thunder (2-3)
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022 at 8 p.m. CT
WHERE: American Airlines Center (Dallas, TX)
TV: Bally Sports Southwest (BSSW), NBA League Pass
RADIO: 97.1 The Freak, 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish)
ODDS: The Mavs are currently 10.5-point favorites over the Thunder. Click here for real-time betting odds updates.
NEXT UP: It's a short turnaround for the Mavs, as they'll stay in Dallas and face the Orlando Magic at AAC on the second night of a back-to-back on Sunday with an earlier 6:30 p.m. CT tipoff.
FINAL WORD: “We just realized who we wanted to attack and emphasized that one of our key words was 'resilient' to start the season,” said Tim Hardaway Jr., who scored 18 points in Dallas' win over Brooklyn. “That’s just us being ballplayers at that point. Executing.”
The Mavs will try to replicate that execution against the Thunder on Saturday night.
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