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5 thoughts after the Dallas Mavericks fall to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 126-119

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5 thoughts after the Dallas Mavericks fall to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 126-119


The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road Thursday night, losing 126-119. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 31 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. Kyrie Irving led Dallas, who was playing without MVP candidate Luka Doncic, with 36 points and 12 assists in defeat.

Dallas opened the game with Daniel Gafford missing a putback, stopping his made-field goal streak at 33, two short of Wilt Chamberlain’s record. The two teams traded baskets early with the Thunder attacking the paint relentlessly while Dallas connected on several outside shots. Josh Green went down with a painful ankle injury midway through the frame. Tim Hardaway entered the game and the offense came to a standstill for the rest of the quarter as he took three ill-advised shots (making one) and had one terrible turnover. Dallas ended the frame down 33-27.

A rare Jaden Hardy appearance started the second quarter and the insertion resulted in a quick Dallas 8-0 run that caused an OKC timeout. Tim Hardaway rebounded from a rough first quarter with a pair of threes and a great backdoor cut for a lay-in. The two teams traded baskets and leads for much of the half, with Kyrie Irving putting on a clinic on offense but SGA doing the same on the other end. The Thunder pulled ahead in the closing minutes on a cascade of threes, but Irving’s five made free throws helped pull Dallas back within two. The Mavericks trailed the Thunder 65-63 at the half.

Dallas fans held their collective breath to start the third quarter; after a made Kyrie Irving three and free throws from Daniel Gafford, Gafford went down with a rolled ankle forcing a Mavericks timeout. He’d return, but the Mavericks found themselves in a hole that quickly became double digits. Turnovers plagued Dallas throughout the frame but the Mavericks managed to hang around. After being down by as many as 11 in the frame, Dallas closed the lead to two, only for Dallas to give up a 9-0 run. Dallas finished 36 minutes of basketball trailing 95-87.

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The final frame saw Dallas make a push for the Thunder once again, but simply couldn’t get over the hump to retake the lead. After pulling within three on two different occasions, the Mavericks gave up five quick points in succession, resulting in Jason Kidd having to take a timeout. Dallas kept trying, but couldn’t seem to make much of a dent as the Thunder threatened to pull away. After getting down by 10, a pair of drives from Hardaway and Irving brought Dallas within six and just three minutes remaining. But it wasn’t enough. Dallas couldn’t get meaningful shots to fall and the Thunder closed hard. The Dallas win streak stops at four as the fall to the Thunder 126-119

An outstanding Kyrie Irving performance

In our postgame podcasts on Pod Maverick, I’ve been wondering when we’d get the next great Kyrie Irving game. He was brilliant with the ball, scoring well, making the right read, and playing pretty locked in defense compared to what we’ve seen from him in recent weeks. Unfortunately, he ran into the same problem Luka Doncic’s had at times in the last several years: not enough of his team could contribute offensively to matter.

P.J. Washington and Dante Exum failed to perform

There were two very different disasters on the offensive end for these two Mavericks players. On the one hand, we have Dante Exum, a guy who’s excelled in his role in Dallas as the third guard. Coming off the bench he’s been able to push the tempt, change pace, score at the rim, and run the offense in a way the Mavericks needed. As a starter in this game though, Exum was a mess. Turnovers aplenty, missed shots, disjointed play, and even mixed defense.

On the other hand we have P.J. Washington, who had a disasterclass of a game. He made his first shot, then missed his next TEN attempts, most of them open threes. His misses are so bad I wonder if he needs glasses. The shot often looks off by a measurable amount, as if he can’t see where the ball needs to go. Sometimes you’re just off, but thus far in Dallas he’s shooting just 42% on field goals and down-right horrid 26.5% on threes. He HAS to do better.

If either of these guys shows up, maybe Dallas could have stolen this one.

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Hold on to the dang basketball, guys!

19 turnovers! 13 by the starters! Get it together and act like you’ve played a basketball game before!

Jason Kidd is a really frustrating coach

When it comes to Jason Kidd, I have attempted to assume that since we know he won’t get fired, it’s best not to constantly whine about him. And yet there are games like this where one has to wonder if he does one or two normal coaching things, does it make a difference? Listening to the TNT broadcast focus in on how Thunder coach Mark Daigneault made the right call, challenge, substitution, or timeout on repeat got taxing when one considered how little they referenced Jason Kidd. I know he does stuff in games, but in comparison, he looked like a fan enjoying a ball game. His players were getting HAMMERED in the paint and despite the free throws, Dallas could have and should have had more. But he let things go, never once standing up and making a point.

This Maxi Kleber bit has to stop

A secondary part to what Kidd does or doesn’t do as coach comes back to his line up decisions and the world should be baffled at his insistence in playing Maxi Kleber in crunch time in the year 2024. I’m well aware that just due to how often they continue to go to the Maxi well, he’s likely to have a moment in these last 20ish games and the playoffs. A broken clock is right twice a day, after all.

But whatever they think he does, he doesn’t actually do. He’s not that great at defense, he’s a horrid rebounder on either end, he can’t or won’t shoot, and makes odd decisions, like driving into an offensive foul on a key possession. I understand Dereck Lively and Gafford make mistakes. Do they make more mistakes than what Maxi does? He’s scored 11 points in the last 142 minutes he’s been on. That’s bad. Make it stop.



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Oklahoma State expected to lose talented EDGE to transfer portal

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Oklahoma State expected to lose talented EDGE to transfer portal


Oklahoma State EDGE Kyran Duhon plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, On3 has learned. Duhon was a member of the 2024 recruiting class.

Duhon spent one year at Oklahoma State, logged 16 total tackles (eight solo) across nine games. He began his career at UTEP, where he had a productive true freshman season, Duhon finished 2024 with 43 total tackles, including seven sacks and two PBUs.

At UTEP, his one season there resulted in second team All-Conference USA honors. He was also named to the On3 True Freshman All-America Team as well as the the Conference USA All-Freshman team.

However, Duhon’s stay in Stillwater didn’t go as expected. Oklahoma State finished the season with a 1-11 record, which included the Cowboys firing longtime head coach Mike Gundy after a 1-2 start. Doug Meacham was named interim head coach but ended the year 0-9.

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Eric Morris has since been named as the program’s next head coach. He comes from North Texas, which finished with an 11-2 record and a trip to the American Conference championship game this past season. However, it doesn’t appear that Duhon will be sticking around during the changing of the guard at Oklahoma State this offseason.

Before college, Duhon was the No. 1,706 overall player in the class, and was recruited as the the No. 165 linebacker during the cycle, per the Rivals Industry Rankings, which is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. He was ranked as the No. 242 overall player out of Texas.

Once the NCAA transfer portal opens on Jan. 2, players can officially enter their names in the NCAA transfer portal and go on to initiate contact with their preferred schools. The portal will be open for 15 days and close on Jan. 16.

Notably, players who are on teams competing in the national championship game are allowed five extra days to make their portal decision. The College Football Playoff championship game will be played on Jan. 19, so the players on those teams will be allowed until Jan. 24 to enter the portal and choose their next school.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

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Oklahoma man doing target practice in back yard charged in fatal shooting of neighbor

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Oklahoma man doing target practice in back yard charged in fatal shooting of neighbor


A man in Oklahoma is facing a manslaughter charge after he allegedly shot a woman several blocks from his home while firing a gun he got himself for Christmas at an energy drink can in his back yard.

As told in court documents reviewed by NBC News, the death of Sandra Phelps at the hands of Cody Wayne Adams illustrates how deadly the consequences can be when those engaging in the US’s prevalent gun culture do so unsafely. Adams’s back yard was not equipped to stop bullets from leaving the property and striking unsuspecting people in the surrounding area, according to authorities.

Phelps was sitting under a covered porch with family on Christmas and holding a child in her arms when they heard gunshots north of the house, said an affidavit laying out the circumstances of Adams’s arrest.

“Sandra commented that someone got a new gun for Christmas and then shortly after Sandra said ‘ouch’ and collapsed,” the affidavit said. It said there were no more gunshots after that.

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Emergency personnel were dispatched to Phelps’s address at about 3.15pm Thursday, the Stephens county sheriff’s office said in a statement.

“We later received a call stating an individual had just received a gun for Christmas and was target practicing in his backyard and that they believed it would be pointing in the direction of the scene,” the sheriff’s office statement added.

“Investigators went to the reported address and spoke with an individual [who] confirmed he was shooting a target in his back yard and that he had heard that someone has died from a gunshot wound a couple of roads over.”

That individual was Adams, 33, who showed deputies a Red Bull can in his back yard that he had been shooting with his handgun, according to the affidavit justifying his arrest.

Authorities allegedly concluded that the vantage point from where Adams was shooting aligned with the angle of the bullet that killed Phelps. They also determined the home lacked a suitable shooting backstop meant to protect those in the surrounding area from being struck by stray bullets.

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“Adams became visibly upset and began to cry” when he learned of Phelps, the affidavit added. He was arrested on a count of first-degree manslaughter and later released on a $100,000 bond.

In the US, unintentional deaths from firearms are a small percentage of gun deaths in the country. But they occur four times more often in the US than in comparable countries – and most involve a handgun.



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Oklahoma man accused of shooting neighbor dead during Christmas target practice

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Oklahoma man accused of shooting neighbor dead during Christmas target practice


What began as Christmas Day target practice in an Oklahoma neighborhood ended in tragedy when a stray bullet fatally struck an elderly woman as she sat on her front porch holding a baby.

Cody Wayne Adams, 33, has been charged with first-degree manslaughter after firing the fatal shot, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by ABC News.

The woman, whose identity was not disclosed, was sitting on the front porch with family members at a home on County Road 1800 on Thursday afternoon when she was shot from several blocks away, the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.

According to the affidavit, the victim was seated on a love seat and holding a baby in her left arm when she was struck in her right upper arm. The bullet then entered her chest cavity.

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Family members told the responding deputy that they had heard someone firing five to seven gunshots and that the victim had “commented that someone got a new gun for Christmas” and shortly afterward “said ‘ouch’ and collapsed,” the affidavit stated.

Cody Wayne Adams, 33, has been charged with first-degree manslaughter after he allegedly shot and killed an elderly woman a few blocks from his home

Cody Wayne Adams, 33, has been charged with first-degree manslaughter after he allegedly shot and killed an elderly woman a few blocks from his home (Stephens County Sheriff’s Office)

As investigators canvassed nearby properties north of the shooting, deputies found that all but one home had “suitable shooting backstops or firing locations,” according to the affidavit. The only exception was Adams’s home.

Adams allegedly told deputies that he had been shooting a Glock 45 he recently bought for himself for Christmas, using a Red Bull can as a target in his backyard, according to the affidavit.

When a deputy told Adams he suspected the shooting may have caused the woman’s death, Adams “became visibly upset and began to cry,” the affidavit stated.

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Adams made his first court appearance Friday. A judge set his bond at $100,000, according to online court records. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 26, 2026.



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