It is the Mavericks who enter the quarter-final the best, with an 8-0. The Thunder quickly responded to this first gap, even stronger, with a 15-1! Once these two series have passed, the meeting becomes balanced. The Texans lose a lot of balls when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dominates and makes baskets. Oklahoma City therefore takes the lead (32-24). Mark Daigneault's men are particularly greedy at 3-pointers: they come everywhere and a lot. The second quarter sometimes resembles a shooting contest. Taken very high, Luka Doncic serves his teammates, circulation is done correctly and the Texans have winning shots in the corners. Nothing is done at the break (57-54).
But things accelerated after returning from the locker room with Oklahoma City going 13-2. The Mavericks find no solution in attack, nor in defense to calm Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who continues his show. Luka Doncic is as discreet as ever and the Thunder takes a real lead, especially when Isaiah Joe scores from 3 points, at the buzzer, to conclude this third quarter (73-90). The Mavericks, however, have resources, with Kyrie Irving scoring two winning baskets in the same place, in a corner. The 10-0 from Dallas is good and restarts the game.
It will only be a small parenthesis because with the return of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and still too many lost balls, the Mavericks again take too many hits and the gap grows to regain twenty points. The winning baskets from Klay Thompson and Doncic change nothing: the Thunder wins 118-104 and will go to Las Vegas for the semi-final of the NBA Cup. It will be against the Rockets or the Warriors.
WHAT TO REMEMBER
– Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a shower of 3-pts. The men of the Thunder did not hesitate, but not hesitate at all, to draw 3-pts in this game: 50 attempts! They did well with 20 successes, or 40% success. One of the most skillful of the evening, he is also the man of the match: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander obviously. With his 39 points at 15/23 shooting including 5/9 at 3-pts, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 interceptions, he was perfect. The Mavericks never had the solution to slow him down and, good news for him and his teammates, he only lost two balls.
– Thunder defense stifled Dallas and Luka Doncic. If the Texan All-Star was able to inflate his statistics in the second period, his match was hell. The Thunder defenders came for the Slovenian as soon as he passed midfield or almost. Taken by two or stuck closely by Lu Dort, he only scored two points at the break. He finished with 16 points at 5/15 on the shoot and his 6 lost balls symbolize the waste of Dallas, who wasted 18 possessions during the game. An uninspired and well-defended Doncic plus a collective weighed down by lost balls, that was a lot of burdens at the feet of Jason Kidd's men.
– The Mavericks series ends, the Thunder series continues. Even though it was an NBA Cup quarter-final, this meeting also counted for the regular season. Thus, Dallas, which remained on seven successes in a row, saw its series interrupted. The Thunder, on the other hand, still leader of the Western Conference, have a fourth victory in a row.
How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D=defensive rebound; T = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Pts = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
