Maybe you’ve heard this one before.
An NBA team is missing its superstar and can’t completely figure out how to cope, losing to a team they were expected to defeat handily.
Yep, it happened to the Oklahoma City Thunder Friday night at American Airlines Center.
They played for the first time this season without high-scoring guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Maybe they should have consulted the Mavericks for advice on how to handle life without your MVP candidate.
The Mavericks are used to it, of course, and they took advantage of OKC’s shorthandedness with Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie and P.J. Washington leading a relentless charge at the end of the first half and then showing great fourth-quarter perseverance that fueled a 106-98 victory over the Thunder, who have by far the best record in the Western Conference.
“Grit, stayed together,” coach Jason Kidd said of how the Mavericks overcame what could have been a lethal third quarter. “I thought we played really well in the first half and we kind of were flat in the third. Shot a lot of threes, didn’t make a lot of threes.
“Then being able to stay the course. (We said) just keep staying together. We’ll work through this and in the fourth quarter, we did.”
It was Dinwiddie who hit a pair of big three-pointers down the stretch that made the difference. He finished with 16 points, as did Washington. Irving led the Mavericks with 25 points and Naji Marshall had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The Mavericks had both taken charge and squandered everything away in the span of about 12 minutes bridging the second and third quarters. They used a huge run at the end of the first half to go up by 20 points. Then they lost it all in a disastrous third quarter when they were outscored 33-14.
It led to a fourth quarter that was there for the taking for both teams. The Mavericks survived a video review that went against them on a block/charge call and still had a 95-91 lead and the ball with 3:30 to go.
It wasn’t until Dinwiddie nailed a three-pointer with 2:11 to go that the Mavericks went up 98-91. The Thunder couldn’t score and the Mavericks were able to bleed the clock. They didn’t score on that possession, but after stifling the Thunder again, Dinwiddie nailed another three-pointer with 53 seconds to go and the Mavericks were up 101-93.
The Mavericks stopped their three-game losing streak and improved to 23-19. They also washed from their mouths the foul taste of the controversial ending in New Orleans on Wednesday.
The Thunder, who had beaten Cleveland 134-114 just 24 hours earlier, still have an impeccable 34-7 record as they reached the season’s midpoint. They had won 19 of their previous 20 games before Friday, including five consecutive.
The Mavericks played without Dereck Lively II (sprained right ankle) as well as Luka Dončić (left calf). The Thunder weren’t anywhere close to full strength, either. Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s leading scorer at 30.4 per game, was a late scratch with a sore wrist.
Moments into the second quarter, Jaden Hardy went down, favoring his right ankle after colliding with Isaiah Joe. He did not return. The Mavericks also lost Dwight Powell in the second half.
Through it all, the Mavericks and Thunder were physical with each other and a kerfuffle or two led to some tense moments.
“They’re the No. 1 team in the West,” Marshall said. “They beat the Cavs by, what, 20 yesterday? Just a great battle. They have a great roster, we have a great roster. It’s just fun to go out and compete against those guys.”
Said Kidd: “We’ve played each other a lot the last few years, so it’s going to be chippy. Guys are competing. Oklahoma City is a really good team, well coached and they’re playing well. We played them in the playoffs. It was chippy then. It’s chippy during the regular season. We feel like we have a talented team and they have a talented team. I thought tonight was a really good test. We keep losing players and the next guy steps up and helps us win.”
And as a team that has played a lot without Dončić, what did the loss of Gilgeous-Alexander do to the Thunder?
“They still play hard on the defensive end,” Marshall said. “Just like us, it’s next man up for them.”
The Mavericks appeared to take control of the game with a 19-2 blitz to close out the first half, which gave them a 63-43 lead.
But the Thunder must have relocated their defensive grit in the locker room at halftime. They are the No. 1 defensive team in the NBA for a reason and with four minutes left in the third quarter, the Mavericks had scored exactly four points.
They ended up finding some rhythm late in the period, but the Thunder already had turned this into a game. They took a lead briefly before going into the fourth quarter trailing just 77-76.
The rough stuff continued, but the Mavericks had enough in the tank to get through it.
“It’s personal,” Irving said of the physicality of the game. “I think it’s the start of a healthy rivalry because they’re good. They were No. 1 in the Western Conference last year. We just got the best of them in that (second-round) series. There’s a lot of young guys in the locker room so we’re going to see them a lot over the next few years.
“They’re a little bit of a different team without Shai, obviously, but they compete. When the pushing and shoving occurs, it’s just good, competitive NBA basketball.”
X: @ESefko
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