The Mavs found a way to win late after a frenetic first three quarters.
They say basketball is a game of runs, and the Dallas Mavericks (23-19) proved them right on Friday with a 106-98 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder (34-7) at American Airlines Center.
The game featured eight runs between both teams that were 8-0 or larger. It may have been mentally exhausting to try to follow this one closely, but in the end, the Mavericks could breathe a big sigh of relief after coming into the game having lost nine of their last 12.
Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 25 points, five rebounds and five assists in the win, and Spencer Dinwiddie added 16 points and four dimes for the Mavs. PJ Washington had 16 to go along with seven boards in the win as well. The pair combined to make seven 3-pointers, but it wasn’t always pretty for Dallas. Jalen Williams led Oklahoma City with 19 points and six assists in the loss.
Here are five stats that tell the tale of the roller coaster of a win leading us into the three-day weekend.
10-9: The stalemate of runs to start the first quarter
The Mavericks opened the game with a 10-0 run as the Thunder went scoreless for the game’s first 3:48. Washington and Irving each hit their first 3-point attempts to give Dallas hope early on. Irving’s driving finger roll with 9:08 left in the first put the Mavs up 10-0, but then Oklahoma City woke up. Jaylin Williams (the other one) converted a tough reverse layup through the defense of Daniel Gafford to make it 10-4 with 7:39 left in the opener. Then Cason Wallace made the Thunder’s first 3-pointer of the game to erase all the Mavs’ good early work and cap a little 9-0 OKC run that pulled the Thunder to withing one, down just 10-9 midway through the first.
After scoring their first 10 points in less than three minutes, the Mavs’ offense sputtered throughout the rest of the first quarter. It took seven more minutes for Dallas to put its next 10 points on the board. Dinwiddie took a steal from Jalen Williams with just over two minutes left and dished it to Olivier-Maxence Prosper at the last second on the break for a thundering jam that gave Dallas a 20-17 advantage.
But the Thunder scored nine of the first quarter’s last 11 points to take a 26-22 lead after one. They made three of their last four 3-point attempts of the quarter to take control of things after the slow start.
1-of-11: Mavs’ poor 3-point shooting stretch across first and second
After Washington and Irving made the Mavs’ first two 3-point attempts in the game’s first two minutes, Dallas was in the freezer from long range for the rest of the first quarter and the first couple minutes of the second. The Mavs converted on just one of their next 11 3-point attempts as Oklahoma City moved in front.
Dallas finally started hitting again after Ousmane Dieng nailed his first 3-ball of the game to put the Thunder up 29-22 just a minute and change into the second quarter. At that point, OKC had made four of its last five 3-point attempts, and the Mavs responded with quick back-to-back-to-back corner 3-pointers from Prosper, Irving and Quentin Grimes to tie the game, 31-31, with 9:09 left before halftime.
The Mavs’ offense was downright perimenopausal on Friday, with all the wild swings from hot to cold. They ended up shooting a respectable 16-of-41 (39%) from 3-point range in the win.
26-6: Dallas’ run to end first half
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Finally, the Thunder remembered they were on the second night of a back-to-back set without their MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Dinwiddie, Washington and Naji Marshall connected on 3-pointers on three straight possessions late in the second quarter as part of a 26-6 Dallas run that started with 6:52 left in the first half. After Lugentz Dort hit his second 3-pointer to tie things at 37-37, the Mavs had to kick the blankets off because they got hot again.
Irving kicked things off with five straight points on a jumper and a 3-point play the old-fashioned way after getting fouled on a made pull-up jumper midway through the second. Washington and Dinwiddie made big buckets during the run, and so did Naji Marshall. The Thunder went scoreless for more than 4:30 during that run. The Dallas defense held Oklahoma City to 3-for-14 shooting from the field and forced six Thunder turnovers, including two stealthy steals from Marshall, during the 26-6 run to end the half. The Mavs used the run to take their biggest lead of the game, up 63-43, into the break.
4:42: Mavericks’ scoreless stretch to start third quarter
The Mavericks let the Thunder right back into it to start the second half, though. Dallas shot 0-of-8 to start the third quarter while the Thunder put up 3-pointer after 3-pointer to try to get back in the game as quickly as possible. They nailed four before Dallas scored its first point of the quarter and nailed their fifth 3-ball of the third before Dallas made its first third-quarter field goal. Aaron Wiggins’ second 3-point make of the game pulled OKC to within 63-55 with 8:09 left in the third, then Wallace hit his second 3-ball to make it a 65-58 affair after a pair of Maxi Kleber free throws.
The Mavs didn’t connect on their first second-half field goal until the 5:08 mark of the third quarter when Irving battled inside for a finger roll to preserve Dallas’ 67-60 lead. Oklahoma City extended their run to 24-6 on Dort’s third 3-pointer of the game with 4:13 left in the third, then matched the Mavs’ 26-6 second-quarter run with one of their own the next time down on Isaiah Joe’s driving score, which tied the game at 69-69.
Name a more infuriating team to watch than your lovable little Dallas Mavericks. I’ll wait. The Thunder moved in front of the Mavs on Jalen Williams’ step-back 3-pointer and contested fadeaway jumper on consecutive possessions late in the frame that made it 74-72 the wrong way. It was the fifth double-digit lead the Mavericks have coughed up since Christmas. Dallas crept back in front, 77-76 heading into the fourth quarter, though, after Dinwiddie’s 3-point play on a mid-range floater with 24 seconds left in the third.
9/4: Naji Marshall fourth-quarter scoring and rebounds
Marshall quietly had a big fourth quarter as the Mavericks finally put together a steady stretch of basketball, as opposed to the frantic, maniacal stretches of alternating awful and inspired play that characterized the first three quarters.
Marshall’s corner 3-pointer early in the fourth gave Dallas a little breathing room and an 83-76 advantage to match, but it only lasted a few minutes before Oklahoma City got it back down to a one-possession lead. The Mavs were nursing a slim 89-88 lead with less than five minutes to play in the game when Maxi Kleber found Marshall open on the left wing for a 3-pointer that extended the lead to four, up 92-88. The next time down, Marshall scooped in a driving bucket over Joe and converted the ensuing free throw for a 3-point play that kept the Thunder at bay and the Mavs in front, 95-91. He was the unsung hero late in the game with four boards in the final frame to go along with nine points.
Marshall finished the game with 14 points, 10 boards and three steals.
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