Oklahoma City Regathers, Grabs Win Over Mavericks
With a Denver Nuggets win the day prior, Oklahoma City had relinquished its top spot in the West once more.
On a late Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks, the Thunder had an opportunity to regain it and bounce back from a home loss two nights prior.
With a returning Jalen Williams for Oklahoma City, and without Luka Doncic for Dallas, things certainly seemed to be in favor of the Thunder with home-court advantage.
That rang true, as an overall balanced two-way effort from the Thunder with emphasis from Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander snagged them a 126-119 win over the Mavericks on Thursday night.
This was the third of four games in the season series, leaving Oklahoma City up 2-1 before their next meeting on April 14.
Kyrie Irving had to will Dallas on his back in the loss. Like the five games Doncic was absent for the Mavericks this season, Irving had again showed up massively in his absence – having four threes 36 points with 12 assists on the night.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams combined for 58 points, as Gilgeous-Alexander reached his 49th game this season with 30 or more points having 31.
The Thunder came out in the first frame on a hunt to get to the cup.
Attack after attack, Oklahoma City's first 13 points all came within the paint besides three points from the free throw line – including a number of tough baskets at the rim from Josh Giddey.
Daniel Gafford was being tried early, but he and Irving started working on the offensive end.
Two threes from Irving and several other scores between the pair would help Dallas go stride for stride with Oklahoma City for the majority of a first frame full of turnovers. In the midst of it, Dallas' Josh Green had nastily rolled his ankle after stepping on Dereck Lively II's foot and headed to the locker room.
But with a bench surge from Kenrich Williams and Isaiah Joe alongside Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder found themselves with a six-point lead before the second quarter.
Dallas would close that gap quickly into the next frame.
Similarly to the first, both teams traded back-and-forth blows, with Gafford and Tim Hardaway Jr. doing damage for Dallas while Williams and Giddey held down Oklahoma City.
But as Irving checked back in with just over eight minutes left in the half, he'd continue on his scoring rhythm from the first – ultimately ending his first half with 20 points.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams paced the Thunder though as they still held a two-point advantage, 65-63, into halftime.
The second half started with another Irving three for his third on the night, giving the Mavericks back the lead.
Oklahoma City continued to attack and create openings along the perimeter, but Dallas' rotations were on point and ensured the only open three would be from Giddey.
With Gafford roaming, he'd entirely ignore Giddey on the perimeter, which had led to missing his first four three-point attempts. But he'd get one to fall, thankfully for his psyche, and then added onto his solid performance on the night in other facets.
Williams stole the attention though after that with his second outstanding block, challenging Derrick Jones Jr. on a breakaway slam and winning emphatically.
From there, one of the best scoring teams in the league off turnovers turned its activity up defensively and fed off the energy inside Paycom Center. Cason Wallace had been doing a steadily tremendous job defending on-ball the whole night, and carried that late into the third to help keep Dallas in the back seat.
And as he was defending hard on the ball, another Maverick had hit the deck – Dante Exum had smacked the back of his head on the floor while attacking the cup, eventually heading to the locker room before returning quickly.
Following, a quick run to end the quarter would see the Thunder up eight heading into the final frame.
To start the fourth, Jaden Hardy supplanting Irving was fruitful again for the Mavericks to keep them in arms reach of the Thunder early on. As soon as Irving checked back in, multiple threes in a matter of 30 seconds from him cut Oklahoma City's lead to six.
But a swing of momentum occurred as soon as some beautiful ball movement into a Lu Dort three lit up the arena.
With the score at 116-105 with less than six minutes to play, it seemed like the Thunder was ready to blow their lead open.
They'd never blow the lead open exactly, but they'd definitely keep it.
Even through Irving's hard-fought and mesmerizing efforts, Williams' fourth-quarter antics behind the Thunder crowd would be too much for Dallas in the end.
Next, the Thunder will head out for a short road trip versus the Memphis Grizzlies at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday.
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