OKLAHOMA CITY – Everybody in the NBA knows that the Oklahoma City Thunder is a team coming hard for the future.
You better get your licks in now on the youthful Thunder because they are going to be a beast in a year or two. When this season started, they had the youngest roster in the league at under 24 years per man.
As far as the Mavericks are concerned, they’re already grown up.
Sunday’s 120-109 loss at Paycom Center, the Mavericks finished the season series 1-2 against OKC. If you’re thinking about that long-spouted NBA theory that to be a really good team you have to beat the losing teams and break even against the good ones, then you’re not alone.
The Mavericks own a shaky 9-7 record against the five teams at the bottom of both the Eastern and Western conferences. However, they are 6-1 against those teams since Dec. 12. So their attention to detail against the bottom feeders has improved of late.
And, let’s face facts: the Mavericks simply aren’t great when their best player sits. That’s something that applies to virtually every NBA team and it’s true with Luka Dončić and the Mavericks, too.
But if you’re looking for a kernel of positivity out of the OKC debacle, consider that the Mavericks had to play without Luka for three games in the playoffs last season. And those 17 games he missed last year during the regular season opened up chances for teammates to learn how to play without their superstar.
“I think the positive thing that’s going to come out of it is that when we get down to the final stretch of the season and everybody has that experience on the floor, I think it’s going to pay off,” said Tim Hardaway Jr. “(For) alot of guys who aren’t getting a ton of minutes, being out there and knowing our personnel and defensive tendencies, I think it’s going to help us out tremendously down the stretch.”
And here’s our other takeaways from the Mavericks’ loss at OKC Sunday:
INTERIOR WRECKORATOR: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a beast with 33 points and he’s proof that you don’t have to be a deadeye gunslinger to pile up huge points. He shot just one three-pointer yet piled up 33 points on 17 shots. He made 13 trips to the free-throw line. In short, he dominated in the paint, where the Thunder outscored the Mavericks 56-24. “With Shai, he does an amazing job of getting to the free-throw line,” Hardaway said. “It opens the door for the rest of your game. He does a great job of manipulating the defense and lull you to sleep where he can get crafty. Each year the young man is getting better and better and better.”
SIGN OF HOPE: Fans have been waiting – sometimes impatiently – for Reggie Bullock’s three-point shot to come around. Against the Thunder, he hit 3-of-6 three-pointers and when you consider that Davis Bertans has been coming off the bench and shooting better of late, that’s two key weapons for spacing the floor that the Mavericks will need in the second half of the season. Bullock’s long-range accuracy still is woeful (31.6 percent for the season). But if he can perk up and the Mavericks can start relying on his shot again, the second half of the season could look a lot different. “Reg was good for us,” coach Jason Kidd said. “I thought the guys played really well without Luka. Again, on the road against a team that’s playing well, we put ourselves in position. It’s 97-91 and we have good looks.”
WRONG NUMBERS: The Mavericks outscored the Thunder in three of the four quarters, yet were pummeled 36-21 in the second quarter. This is another example of how slim the margin of victory is when you don’t have Luka. They did not play poorly except when they could not stop the Thunder in those 12 minutes. Interestingly, Gilgeous-Alexander did not have a single one in the second period.
Twitter: @ESefko
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