The Dallas Mavericks took down the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-119 Sunday night in an entertaining win in Oklahoma City. Dallas was without Luka Doncic, and the Thunder were without Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso, yet the Mavericks were able to pull off the short handed win.
It was a team-wide effort without Doncic, and Dallas exerted its size advantage in positive ways. Here are the numbers to know.
18, 24: Mavericks offensive rebounds, second chance points
The Thunder were without Chet Holmgren, who broke his hip a week ago and will be out indefinitely, and are still without Isaiah Hartenstein, who broke his hand in the preseason. OKC was also missing Jaylin Williams, nursing a hamstring injury. Those are all the true bigs on the Thunder roster, so they’ve been making due with an ultra small ball lineup with no player taller than 6’6 in the rotation.
Because of this, Dallas had to take advantage with its massive frontcourt in comparison with centers Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford and forwards PJ Washington and Maxi Kleber. The Mavericks did just that, grabbing 18 offensive rebounds and scoring 24 second chance points.
The Mavericks outscored the Thunder in second-chance points 24-7, so that advantage was crucial in what ended up being a three point win. PJ Washington had 17 rebounds on his own, six offensive. Dallas never played down to OKC’s small ball, and bullied the Thunder on the glass all night.
7: Mavericks players scoring in double-figures
Without Luka Doncic, who was out officially with a bruised right knee, but seemingly has various multiple lower body ailments, the Mavericks needed role players to step up and fill in the gaps for Doncic’s missing points, and boy did those players ever do so with seven Mavericks score in double-digits.
The Dallas Mavericks took down the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-119 Sunday night in an entertaining win in Oklahoma City. Dallas was without Luka Doncic, and the Thunder were without Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso, yet the Mavericks were able to pull off the short handed win.
It was a team-wide effort without Doncic, and Dallas exerted its size advantage in positive ways. Here are the numbers to know.
18, 24: Mavericks offensive rebounds, second chance points
The Thunder were without Chet Holmgren, who broke his hip a week ago and will be out indefinitely, and are still without Isaiah Hartenstein, who broke his hand in the preseason. OKC was also missing Jaylin Williams, nursing a hamstring injury. Those are all the true bigs on the Thunder roster, so they’ve been making due with an ultra small ball lineup with no player taller than 6’6 in the rotation.
Because of this, Dallas had to take advantage with its massive frontcourt in comparison with centers Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford and forwards PJ Washington and Maxi Kleber. The Mavericks did just that, grabbing 18 offensive rebounds and scoring 24 second chance points.
The Mavericks outscored the Thunder in second-chance points 24-7, so that advantage was crucial in what ended up being a three point win. PJ Washington had 17 rebounds on his own, six offensive. Dallas never played down to OKC’s small ball, and bullied the Thunder on the glass all night.
7: Mavericks players scoring in double-figures
Without Luka Doncic, who was out officially with a bruised right knee, but seemingly has various multiple lower body ailments, the Mavericks needed role players to step up and fill in the gaps for Doncic’s missing points, and boy did those players ever do so with seven Mavericks score in double-digits.
PJ Washington led the way with 27, using his size to score near the basket and finally make some threes. Kyrie Irving had 23 points, looking like his usual efficient self, although he did most of his damage on two points (6-of-12 from two). The biggest surprises were Jaden Hardy’s 13 points and Spencer Dinwiddie’s 10 — both bench guards had struggled shooting the ball lately, and Hardy did all of his damage without making a single three pointer, attacking off the bounce well. Dinwiddie on the other hand did most of his work behind the arc, with six huge points in the fourth quarter on consecutive three pointers.
36: Mavericks free throw attempts
The Mavericks don’t get to the line a ton for a team that has two stars in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, but they were able to get there a ton against the Thunder, using some old-fashioned bully-ball to get the Thunder into foul trouble. Dallas went 30-of-36 at the free throw line, compared to the Thunder’s 19-of-25.
While Dallas picked up a few extra trips thanks to the Thunder intentionally fouling to extend the game in the final minute, the Mavericks were still at an advantaged for most of the night at the free throw line thanks to the teams determination to get into the paint and the Mavericks bigger lineup forcing the Thunder to foul during loose ball and rebounding situations — PJ Washington had 10 attempts and Gafford had seven. It’s one of the few times in the Doncic era that a player other than Doncic reached double-digit free throw attempts.
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