The Dallas Mavericks have returned to having a .500 record after picking up a 121-119 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Paycom Center in OKC. Luka Doncic was ruled out of this game with a knee injury, but the rest of the Mavs stepped up in a great performance to pick up this win on the second night of a back-to-back.
P.J. Washington picked up where he left off against the Thunder in the Playoffs with 27 points (7-13 FG), 17 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in his return from injury after missing five games. Kyrie Irving scored 23 points (9-18 FG) and dished six assists to lead the team as their point guard in Luka’s absence. Five other Mavericks had double-digit points in this win.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a great individual game with 36 points (13-19 FG) with eight assists, two steals, and two blocks while Jalen Williams continued his strong play as the team’s center with 27 points (11-17 FG). Lu Dort had 18 points (5-10 FG) but nobody else in OKC could crack double-digits and provide enough support to the established starters to pick up another win.
Let’s take a deeper look into the major takeaways from this game.
The Mavericks Style Isn’t Suiting Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic is off to the worst start of his career since his rookie season, averaging 28.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 7.8 assists on 42.5% from the field in the 13 games he’s played so far. After looking like a ghost in a 16-point performance in their win over the San Antonio Spurs last night, the Mavs ruled him out of this game to manage the knee injury he’s been playing with since the start of the season.
Doncic is playing with a career-low (excl. rookie season) usage rate of 33.8 this season as Jason Kidd has pushed more offensive versatility on the franchise after acquiring talents like Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall in the summer instead of going all-in on Luka-ball. That has been an adjustment for the Mavs superstar, lacking the consistency that’s made him a perennial MVP candidate since his sophomore season.
Coach Kidd has empowered multiple Mavericks to play on-ball while having two scoring guards off the bench in Jaden Hardy and Spencer Dinwiddie to also lower Luka’s on-ball workload. That helped them tonight, as they used multiple options to keep attacking the Thunder as compared to the awkwardness the Mavs offense has had with Luka learning to play off-ball as the season goes on.
The style isn’t suiting Luka right now, but we know that a player of his caliber will likely adjust at a high level to these changes especially when he’s more comfortable with an injury-riddled body.
P.J. Washington Is Dallas’ 3rd-Best Player
P.J. Washington missed five straight games for the Mavericks with an ankle injury, a stretch over which the Mavs lost four straight games by one possession. Given how thin the margin of victory was in those games for other teams, they had to have been glad that P.J. wasn’t on the court as he could’ve easily made the difference to make sure those contests ended as Mavs wins.
Washington had 27 points (7-13 FG), 17 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in a complete performance tonight, stepping up in Luka’s absence to lead the team offensively. He averaged 17.7 points and 8.3 rebounds against OKC in the Playoffs, so this is an opponent he can have big games against. He’s also been the best defender on the Mavs this season, currently boasting an individual defensive rating of 108.1 compared to the Mavs’ 112.7 defensive rating as a unit.
Klay Thompson might be the theoretical third option for Dallas, but he’s shown a proneness to have bad games like tonight (5 PTS, 1-11 FG). Washington’s defensive output is of a far higher level and consistent with enough offensive versatility to have games like he did tonight. Washington proved that he’s the third star on the Mavs this season, with the team having a 6-3 record when he plays this season.
OKC Can Only Go So Far Without A Center
The OKC Thunder lost Chet Holmgren to a pelvis fracture last week while backup centers Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams are also on the shelf with injuries. As a result, OKC has played the 6’5″ Jalen Williams as their center and had gone 4-0 until they ran into Dallas tonight. Daniel Gafford (11 PTS, 12 REB, 1 BLK) and Dereck Lively II (6 PTS, 5 REB, 2 BLK) made light work of the size difference and were constant interior threats that Williams was outmatched against.
Along with Shai’s individual brilliance and PJ Washington being the winning difference-maker for the Mavs, another theme from their 2024 Playoffs matchup that was seen tonight was the Mavs being able to bully OKC on the inside. Dallas outrebounded OKC 53-28, a difference of almost double.
OKC used their length and athleticism to grab 11 steals to the Mavs’ five and even outscored them in the paint 54-52, but the lack of a force that the Mavs had to worry with made their defensive assignments simpler.
With no solution in the near future, the Thunder need to address their major hole in the middle to be favorites against other major contenders in the West over the course of the season.
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