Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC Thunder rally late but fall short to Dallas Mavericks

On By Littum

Even after facing the beast of Dallas’ big, the Thunder still had a shot.

A wild sequence with several monumental 3s, a couple of long replays and one last opportunity for OKC’s Lu Dort to throw down a prayer, OKC looked still within its rights to keep its fingers crossed.

But its miniature troops had taken OKC as far as they could in one 121-119 Thunder loss to Mavericks on Sunday night at the Paycom Center.

Its depleted core, small and tenacious, had fended off some reasonable teams during the week. It washed away Ivica Zubac and the Clippers. It handled a Pelicans team that rode to the Paycom Center in wheelchairs. And without Kevin Durant, it diminished Devin Booker’s suns and shrunk Jusuf Nurkic to size.

But that one Mavericks, without Luka Doncicposed a far greater threat than either of them.

Oklahoma City’s small ball hit an inescapable wall.

On Sunday, Dallas outscored OKC by 24 — not too egregious a number considering the Thunder’s week without centers.

But unlike most teams this week, the Mavericks abused the Thunder’s temporary dwarfism.

PJ Washington, a blight on OKC’s mental health by now, had 17 boards. Daniel Gafford & Dereck Lively II, a revolving door of chest-pounding bigs, combined for 18 of them.

Lively was far more prepared for OKC’s rush, beating the swarm with constant kicks off the post. Gafford didn’t care much about being gentle, shouldering his way through double teams and to the free throw line.

Dallas attempted eight more paint shots. The Thunder shot 15 more 3s.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander embodied a paint touch, sliding his way to the rim en route to 36 points and eight assists on 13-of-19 shooting. His lone 3-point attempt came inside the wild sequence that gave OKC life.

But Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder’s rare touches of paint amounted to only so much.

It’s hard to knock down the wall that the Mavericks built.

This article originally appeared on The Oklahoman: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder rally late, comes up short for Mavericks