Thunder Find Win Against Dallas Mavericks In Wild Overtime Nail-Biter

The Oklahoma City Thunder marched into American Airlines Arena on Saturday night and handed the Dallas Mavericks their third loss of the season.

In their third road game of the season, The Oklahoma City Thunder marched into the American Airlines Arena on Saturday night and gave the Dallas Mavericks their third loss of the season after a 117-111 victory.

Tonight’s match with the Mavericks also meant the return for the Thunder’s 12th overall pick, Jalen Williams, who had missed the last four games due to an orbital bone injury suffered on October 19th in the team’s home opener.

The Thunder would find themselves down big in the third, but would claw their way back in the fourth to force overtime and would eventually topple the Mavericks on the back of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and some hot shooting from the newly acquired Isaiah Joe.

The Thunder opened up the first frame matching the Dallas Mavericks’ offensive firepower to tie the game up 15-15 at the midway mark behind an all-around team effort.

Mark Diagneault called on Darius Bazley and Jalen Williams to sub in for Tre Mann and Aleksej Pokusevski to give the team a defensive boost after Luka Doncic sought to take advantage of the Thunder’s smaller lineup.

From thereon, a strong defensive showing from the Thunder would thwart Dallas’ efforts but a few foul calls would allow the Mavericks to stay before the quarter closed out 27-25, in favor of Oklahoma City.

To begin the second quarter, the Thunder started off on the right foot, defensively, as the first four Dallas possessions resulted in zero points. On the other end, Eugene Omoruyi’s aggression quickly earned him four trips to the free throw line.

But Dallas’ offense would quickly regain their footing, and would edge out the Thunder’s defense to retake the lead behind both Spencer Dinwiddie’s steady hand and Luka Doncic’s experience and playmaking down the stretch.

Dallas headed to halftime enjoying a five point lead with the score being 51-46.

The Thunder would fail to make a single three in the first half and would record just 19 points in the second half, compared to the Mavericks’ 26.

The Mavericks’ 26 rebounds edged out the Thunder’s 16 in the first two quarters of play.

Coming out of the halftime break, both team’s offenses got off to a sluggish start with Dallas scoring 10 points in the first five minutes, edging out the Thunder’s nine.

Doncic and Dwight Powell’s pick-and-roll actions proved difficult for the Thunder to defend as opportunities opened up all over the court for the Mavericks.

Oklahoma City would find a good offensive stretch to hang in the game and would eventually claw their way back into the lead behind some stellar defensive possessions and some great plays by Darius Bazley and Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Thunder would head into the fourth, enjoying a one point lead over the Mavericks, 72-71.

In the fourth quarter, the Thunder’s energy and hustle were on full display early, but Dinwiddie’s playmaking and the Maverick’s free throws were still able to help Dallas build an early seven-point lead.

After helping the Mavericks into bonus territory early, the Thunder’s defense would continue to struggle, giving up open shots at the rim and from three. The offense would come to a screeching halt as the team tried to fight their way back over Dallas’ 16-point lead.

But the Thunder’s late game efforts from Gilgeous-Alexander and a clutch 3-pointer from Joe would erase Dallas’ big lead and tie the game up 99-99 before forcing overtime.

Overtime play would open up with Gilgeous-Alexander and Dorian Finney-Smith exchanging points in the paint before Joe dropped a deep 3-pointer to beat the shot clock and put the Thunder up 104-101 with three minutes to go.

Gilgeous-Alexander would find another layup and a trip to the free throw line after a hard foul to put the Thunder up 108-101.

The officials would call a foul on Bazley for not giving Doncic enough landing space on a three-point attempt. Daigneault would challenge, but the call would stand and Doncic would make two of his free throws to cut the Thunder’s lead to five.

But Isaiah Joe would bury another deep three and Aaron Wiggins would earn a trip to the free throw line to secure a wild victory over the Mavericks.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will head back home to rest for a couple of days before taking on the Orlando Magic at 7:00p.m. CST on Tuesday night.

---

Want to join the discussion? Like SI Thunder on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.