OKC Thunder unable to complete comeback over Dallas Mavericks

The Oklahoma City Thunder picked up their third loss of the season to the Dallas Mavericks, losing 121-119.

In a game where the Thunder fought all night, they gave themselves the opportunity to win with under a minute to play. The ball rolled the right way for them and several players hit clutch shots, but it wasn’t enough in the end.

OKC’s inability to rebound the basketball put them behind 66-58 at halftime and in a hole in general all game. Maverick center Daniel Gafford grabbed six rebounds in the first half and finished with 12 total. A combination of him and forward PJ Washington allowed the Mavericks to outscore the Thunder 53 to 29 all night.

The Thunder trailed 39-34 at the end of the first quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander closed out the half with a flurry of free throws, and rookie guard Ajay Mitchell found his spots in the midrange to add. A combination of Kyrie Irving, Naji Marshall and Jaden Hardy helped keep the score close for the Mavericks at the end of the first quarter.

OKC and Dallas went back and forth throughout the first quarter until the Mavericks pulled away late. They also maintained that lead for the rest of the second quarter, with Irving, Marshall and guard Quentin Grimes all contributing. Irving finished with 10 points in the first half and Marshall with 11 off the bench.

Needing a second-half spark, OKC star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked to improve from his 20-point first-half performance. Sharpshooter Isaiah Joe started the OKC scoring with a triple, and Lu Dort added to the total by getting to the free throw line, as did Gilgeous-Alexander in the midrange.

The X-factor off the bench for the Mavericks was Marshall. As soon as he entered the game at any point, he affected the scoring and the intensity on the defensive side of the ball. He scored just once in the third quarter, but affected the game in other ways,

A surprising impact player for OKC was first round rookie Dillon Jones. He finished the night with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting, the best performance of his young career. He scored five points and dished out two assists in the third quarter, resulting in a 97-92 lead in favor of Dallas.

With Luka Doncic out for the Mavericks, Dallas needed others to step up in his absence. Next to Marshall, Jaden Hardy stood out as the scorer. He finished with 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting and did an excellent job of getting to the rim and creating space on mid-range attempts. Both Marshall and Hardy would prove to be valuable assets down the stretch for Dallas.

In a stretch where Gilgeous-Alexander was on the bench, Dallas managed to take advantage early in the fourth quarter and extend its lead to 11 points. Fortunately for the Mavericks, the scoring differential was too much to overcome, even with Gilgeous-Alexander in the game.

The story of the night for the Mavericks was its bench production. They got another assist from deep off the bench, this time from Spencer Dinwiddie. He scored all of his points in the fourth quarter and extended the Maverick lead, finishing with 120 total points.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 36 points on the night, along with two rebounds and eight assists. His third 30-point performance of the season wasn’t enough to overcome Dallas. The same reason OKC has seen an increase in narrow wins or losses in the last four games has been the lack of rebounding. As long as Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein are unavailable, rebounding will be a challenge.

Trailing by eight points with about a minute left, the Thunder needed stops, forcing more. Gilgeous-Alexander hit a triple with 25 seconds left to cut the deficit to three and forced and recovered the ball on a late jumper but couldn’t tie the game as the clock hit zero. The late comeback attempt was heroic, but simply not enough.

OKC next plays the San Antonio Spurs at 8:30 PM CT on Tuesday, November 19 on the road in San Antonio.

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