Mavericks vs. Thunder Preview: 4 things to watch as Dallas takes on Oklahoma City

After notching their fourth-straight win, the Mavericks will leave Dallas to make a short trip up to OKC to face the Thunder as they jostle amongst the West’s crowded playoff standings.

The Mavericks have played the Thunder well in their two matchups so far this season – losing the first by six points, a score of 126-120, but then uncorking a 35-point win against the premiere squad in the conference shortly after the trade deadline

Playing a top-seed team at their place while on the second night of a back-to-back aren’t ideal conditions, but every win counts, so if Dallas can find a bottle of whatever they opened up for their last meeting, this could be a big win as the season is winding to an end.

Add to that the fact that Luka Doncic left the game against Golden State with left hamstring soreness. It seems unlikely Dallas would want to risk their superstar’s heath on a back-to-back, so if Dallas is going to take care of business, it may need to be without Luka Doncic.

Can’t miss forever

Dallas, one of the league’s most prolific three-point shooting teams, has been moonlighting as a paint-point powerhouse for the last two games.

Against Chicago, the story was Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford combining to go 21-of-22 from the floor. Dallas followed that up by throwing down 13 dunks as a team and shooting nearly 54% from the floor against Golden State. Both wins, and in both games, the Mavericks shot horribly from three. It was completely un-Mavsian.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved the down-low dominance we’re seeing from Lively and Gafford, but it’d be nice to get the threes falling again. Or at least better than the 15% they shot against Golden State. They’ll likely need it to topple a team like OKC.

Defense is their defense

Head coach Jason Kidd on multiple occasions has commented on how for Dallas, their defense is almost entirely contingent on their offense. The team was built to be a high-octane scoring machine, and defense was just a by-product. And unless players saw those shots go down, that defensive effort dropped even lower.

Well, Dallas’ offense has been if not outright shaky, at least unorthodox, but it coincided with their two best defensive performances of the year. Sure, it came against a mediocre Bulls team and a Warriors squad without Steph Curry, but holding two NBA teams to 92 and 99 points respectively is something worth making note of in the modern NBA. Hopefully, that defensive effort travels up I-35 to Oklahoma.

Head of the boards

On top of dunking and blocking everything in sight, the Dallas center duo has another opportunity to tilt the box score. In losses, OKC gives up more second-chance points than any other team in the league with 18.1 per game. Over the last 10 games, Dallas and its new-look front court have been scoring the fourth-most second-chance points with 15.6 per game.

As promising of a player as rookie Chet Holmgren has been this season, a rebounding monster he is not. The Thunder rank 27th in rebounds on the season.

If Lively and Gafford go to work on the boards, it could mean big offensive rebound numbers, and even more easy put-back buckets.

Gaff-watch

Daniel Gafford has made 33 straight shots from the floor and trails Wilt Chamberlain’s record of 35 by just two.

Gafford hasn’t missed a shot in five games and will have a decent shot at passing Wilt, which is impressive no matter what category it is. That task becomes a lot more difficult if Luka Doncic isn’t on the court creating easy looks, though.

How to watch

You can broadcast or stream the game on TNT at 9 p.m. CST.