Three Takeaways from the OKC Thunder's Handling of the Dallas Mavericks

The Oklahoma City Thunder advanced to the NBA Cup semifinals after Tuesday night, where they defeated the Dallas Mavericks 118-104. This marks the team's fourth consecutive win.

Oklahoma City awaits the winner of the Golden State Warriors versus the Houston Rockets on Wednesday evening, two teams who the Thunder have both won and lost against this season.

To get there, Oklahoma City had a relatively healthy Dallas team's number, shooting above 40% from three and creating 18 turnovers against the Mavericks. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 39, and his supporting cast of starters all eclipsed double digits in the scoring column to claim its 14-point win.

Let's take a deeper look into three takeaways from Tuesday night's game:

OKC Grabs More Rebounds, Shoots More Shots

It's as simple as that. More rebounds, more offensive opportunities, more shots on goal. It's been said many times and it'll be said again as Oklahoma City navigates this season, but Isaiah Hartenstein is beginning to look invaluable for this team thus far---as he snagged 13 boards on the night.

That propped up 52 rebounds to the Mavericks' 44, leaving many more offensive chances when also examining the amount of turnovers forced by the Thunder. As a result, Oklahoma City shot the ball a whopping 21 more times than Dallas, making eight more field goals and shooting 45.5% overall.

Dallas' saving grace from the score getting ugly was at the free throw line, shooting 19 times from the stripe, but only made 13 of them on the night.

Shai Efficiency-Alexander

The Thunder superstar was excellent in the team's win on Tuesday night. Efficiency was the name of his game, and it reflected in the box score.

A plus-22 plus-minus illuminated that directly, as shooting at a 65.2% clip on 23 tries---nine of them being threes---Gilgeous-Alexander put on an absolute clinic as we're accustomed to seeing from him. This creeps him closer to the 30-point average thus far this season, sitting at 29.8 through 24 games.

In Oklahoma City's fourth win in a row, this marks Gilgeous-Alexander's third consecutive game with 30 points or more.

Thunder Defense Limits Dynamic Duo

Oklahoma City limited Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving to the best of its ability, and it paid off in the end result. Thankfully for the Thunder, it had been spared with the announcement that P.J. Washington would be ruled out due to a right sprained knee---as it's known the troubles he gives Oklahoma City in virtually every one of their meetings.

But without Washington, Oklahoma City's heightened focus on Doncic and Irving led to just a combined 33 points on 12-for-29 from the field, paired with eight turnovers between the two.

The Thunder dialed in on Doncic in its first game against him since last year's playoff bout, as he was absent during Dallas and Oklahoma City's opening and most recent meeting in November.

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