Thunder Struggle from Three, Fall to Dallas 98-96
The Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Dallas Mavericks 98-96 at the Bank of America Center in Tulsa on Wednesday evening, moving to 1-1 in preseason play.
The Thunder remained within striking distance all night, but couldn’t overcome 21 points from Maverick’s rookie guard Jaden Hardy. For Oklahoma City, second-year guard Josh Giddey was the lead scorer, tallying 13 points to go along with three assists and four steals.
OKC began the contest with a sloppy offensive performance, failing to score in the first two minutes and frequently turning the ball over throughout the opening quarter. Two quick baskets from Giddey and a deep three pointer from fellow sophomore ball handler Tre Mann, however, served as a spark plug for the Thunder’s offense.
Giddey was on fire early, scoring six of Oklahoma City’s first nine points en route to a 10-point, three-steal first quarter. Later in the frame, rookie wing Ousmane Dieng entered the game, nailing a three directly in front of the Thunder bench on his first offensive possession.
Aside from Dieng’s triple, Oklahoma City struggled from beyond the arc, starting the game 3-of-15 from three. The Mavericks led 28-26 heading into the second quarter.
OKC stayed stride for stride with Dallas in the second quarter, matching the contest’s growing physicality. Giddey continued to control the game, taking the ball to the basket with confidence while showing the ability to finish layups or deliver beautiful passes to open teammates.
Mann, who was the Thunder’s leading scorer in Monday’s victory over the Nuggets, began to heat up in the second quarter after struggling to start the contest. Early on in the second frame, the Florida product threw a beautiful lob pass to Darius Bazely, who finished the play with a ferocious slam dunk.
Mann then drained a floater from the middle of the paint followed by another deep three point shot and a steal. At halftime, Oklahoma City trailed 53-52, with Mann pitching in eight points, two assists and two steals.
OKC opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run, kicked off by a strong interior finish from rookie wing Jalen Williams. This stretch was aided by multiple steals from the Thunder, who had 13 entering the fourth quarter.
After scoring 15 points against the Nuggets on Monday, second-year guard Aaron Wiggins added seven points in the third frame of Wednesday’s game. Wiggins, however, was overshadowed by a 12-point quarter from Mavericks’ big man Christian Wood.
After a low scoring third quarter, the Thunder held a slight, 75-73 advantage going into the game’s final period.
Early in the fourth quarter, Jaylin Williams dropped a perfect bounce pass to Eugene Omoruyi while he was cutting to the rim, giving OKC a seven point lead. Hardy, however, quickly killed the Thunder’s momentum with a transition three pointer.
Later, veteran guard David Nwaba almost brought the house down with a monster dunk that would have given Oklahoma City a two-possession lead, but an expired shot clock negated Nwaba’s massive slam. From there, the Mavericks would retake the lead behind multiple clutch three-pointers from Hardy.
OKC’s shooting woes were the game’s deciding factor; the Thunder shot 6-for-32 from downtown while Dallas knocked down 13 of its three-point attempts. Oklahoma City returns to the Paycom Center tomorrow night to take on Josh Giddey’s former team, the Adelaide 36ers, at 7 p.m.
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