The Dallas Mavericks evened up their Western Conference semifinal series with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night with a 119-110 road victory, powered by some red-hot shooting and timely buckets from their superstars. Mavs guard Luka Doncic shook off a subpar Game 1 performance to finish with 29 points on 11-of-21 shooting, adding 10 rebounds and seven assists.
The Mavericks went a pristine 18-for-37 from the 3-point line, with P.J. Washington taking the lead with a playoff career-high 29 points on 7-for-11 3-point shooting. He, Doncic, Josh Green and Tim Hardaway Jr. combined to go 17-for-28 (61%) from beyond the arc, which allowed Dallas to take home the victory despite just nine points from Kyrie Irving.
Though they never stopped fighting, OKC was behind the eight-ball all night long. The Thunder took the lead after a strong push to begin the third quarter, but Dallas answered by creating some distance that OKC just could not close. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was spectacular, putting up 33 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, while Jalen Williams added 20 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Game 3 is set for Saturday afternoon, with the winner potentially taking control of the series.
Here are a few takeaways from Thursday night's game.
Raining 3s in OKC
When your team makes 18 3-pointers at a 49% clip during a playoff game, chances are you're going to win. The fact that it was the largely the supporting cast raining in 3s all night long only opened up things for Doncic and Irving throughout the game. If Mavericks floor-spacers like Washington, Green and Hardaway are making shots, it leaves the Thunder with a difficult predicament -- play Doncic and Irving one-on-one and live with the consequences, or help off them and leave a shooter wide open. When they chose to help, Irving made them pay with 11 assists -- five of which went to 3-point shooters.
With scorers as dynamic as Doncic and Irving, it's nearly impossible to stop the Mavericks when their role players are hitting shots. The question is whether they can keep it up as the series progresses.
Luka bounces back
Doncic is so good that we tend to judge him against his own standard, but he has experienced some pretty subpar games this postseason, including Game 1's 6-for-19 shooting performance. He clearly came out on Thursday night intent to get back to his usual ways. He took control in the first quarter as he led the Mavs to a 13-2 lead, setting the tone for the type of night OKC was in for.
Doncic scored 16 points in the opening frame on 4-of-5 3-point shooting, and though he didn't have the best second and third quarters, he showed up when Dallas needed him in crunch time. Because the Mavs' role players were knocking down their 3-pointers, the Thunder had to limit their help on Doncic, leaving the opportunity for phenomenal shots like this dagger pirouette fadeaway in the fourth.
This is the Doncic that we're used to seeing, and if he's the one that shows up for the rest of the series, the Thunder will be in major trouble.
Giddey gone?
OKC coach Mark Daigneault elected to insert Aaron Wiggins in the place of regular starter Josh Giddey to start the third quarter, and you have to wonder if the decision could carry over for the rest of the series. Giddey's lack of shooting prowess allows defenders to sag off of him, and the Thunder have dealt with that dynamic all season long. Daigneault has started other players like Cason Wallace in Giddey's place after halftime in the past, so it will be interesting to see what he has planned for Game 3.
Giddey was minus-20 in 11 minutes on Thursday night, while Wiggins was minus-1 in a game that they lost by 10. Wiggins, who shot 49% from 3-point range this season (on limited attempts) compared to Giddey's 34%, was all over the court in Game 2, making hustle plays and grabbing rebounds to keep his team energized.
If Daigneault sends Giddey to the bench on Saturday, Wiggins will likely be the choice.
