Oklahoma
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.
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.
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.
Kamden Mantooth caps wild week by leading Mustang to 6A baseball title
It was a wild week for Kamden Mantooth, who helped Mustang beat Edmond Santa Fe 5-4 for the 6A baseball title. After being forced to sit in the semifinals due to an ejection in the quarterfinals, he pitched 5 2/3 innings Saturday.
Joe Patterson was hoping it would be different this time.
The Mustang baseball coach is no stranger to state championship games.
But as Mustang headed into its Class 6A title matchup against Edmond Santa Fe in May, a state championship victory remained a goal that hadn’t been fulfilled for Patterson as a player or head coach.
“That was all together — playing and coaching — my (sixth) state championship game, and I was 0-5,” Patterson said.
Patterson can now revise that record to 1-5 as the Broncos beat defending champion Edmond Santa Fe 5-4 at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.
An unforgettable day for Patterson.
An unforgettable season.
After leading Mustang to its third title and a 39-6 record while playing a brutally difficult schedule, Patterson is The Oklahoman’s 2026 All-State Coach of the Year.
“It was one of those years where it felt like I wasn’t working the whole year,” Patterson said. “Just a special group and everybody involved did such an amazing job and the players got along and the senior leadership was just unbelievable.”
A year after going 19-16 and falling at regionals, this season was vastly different for Patterson as Mustang dominated from beginning to end.
The Broncos won 11 of their first 12 games and ended the season the exact same way, claiming victories in 11 of their last 12 matchups.
They thrived in tight games, going 12-3 in matchups decided by two or fewer runs.
“We lost a bunch of close games last year,” Patterson said. “We didn’t have as great a season as we wanted, so we talked about trying to change the team morale and change the culture just a little bit in the fall, and we really focused on that. Just trying to make the place a more positive place for the kids and emphasize them having a little bit more fun but still working.”
Born and raised in Duncan, Patterson’s love of baseball and sports in general go back to those days.
His dad, Bill, was Duncan’s head football coach from 1997-2003 before accepting an assistant position at Owasso and serving as the Rams’ head coach from 2007-2016.
A standout in football and baseball in high school, Joe Patterson was at Duncan as a freshman and sophomore before spending his final two years at Owasso and then playing college baseball from 2007-2010. He went to Oral Roberts for one year, Seminole State for a season and Texas A&M for his final two.
Patterson was named the national junior college player of the year at Seminole State and had a successful stint at Texas A&M, hitting .362 with 21 homers and 100 RBIs with the Aggies.
He’s been at Mustang since the summer of 2019 after coaching at Westmoore.
Former OU shortstop Brandon Zaragoza played for Patterson during his senior year at Westmoore and was a Mustang assistant for the last four seasons before recently being named Westmoore’s new head coach.
Patterson has had a huge impact on Zaragoza, who will take what he’s learned from his former coach into his new gig.
“He just brought pure joy to the game for me, especially with just his ability to, one, obviously coach the game, but two, to allow his players to go out there and perform,” Zaragoza said. “The coolest thing about Pat was his ability to just pick up on player knowledge. Just kind of knowing what he has in terms of personnel and then of course his ability to just game plan, strategize, just get his guys ready to play.”
Patterson always wanted to coach at a one-high school town like Mustang.
He has his wish now, and Zaragoza says it’s a well-oiled machine.
“That’s kind of how I describe it a lot to people,” Zaragoza said. “Just a well-oiled machine in terms of just the coaches that are over there and the attention to detail and the preparation. There’s no loose ends at Mustang. And given how big the school is, you can always get kind of lost in personnel or all that stuff, but just the way that Mustang operates, it’s top tier.”
Mustang didn’t necessarily have big names this season like some teams in the state, but the Broncos had several guys who shined.
Outfielder and Northern Oklahoma College-Enid signee Nate Sutton hit .449 with 15 homers and 70 RBIs.
Fellow senior Kamden Mantooth was second on the team with a .442 batting average. A shortstop, Mantooth started at pitcher in the title game and held Edmond Santa Fe to eight hits and four runs — three earned — over 5 2/3 innings.
“It means everything for us,” Mantooth said after the championship win. “We’ve been working for this since we were in seventh grade. We’ve been working for this, and we finally achieved our goal that we wanted.”
For Patterson, it’ll forever be a special moment as he had his 6-year-old son with him in the dugout and his dad watching from the stands.
Patterson had lost two title games as a player at Owasso and three as a head coach — two at Westmoore and one at Mustang.
The outcome was different this time, and it was well worth the wait.
“It was just a feeling of relief and happiness,” Patterson said.
Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
Crews responded to a fireworks stand after it caught fire in Broken Arrow Saturday night.
Authorities urged people to avoid E. Kanosha Street near S. 236th E. Avenue as the road is closed and fireworks could spread in the area due to the fire.
Broken Arrow Fire Department released a statement confirming no injuries were sustained as a result of the explosions or fire.
Fire crews quickly controlled the fire in about 20 minutes according to Broken Arrow Fire Department.
The initial cause of the fire is under investigation.
Viewer Leslie Maxey, who lives close to the fireworks stand, sent in video of the ongoing fire.
“We were putting our daughter to bed with a book when we heard an explosion that was gradually getting louder and louder,” Maxey said.
This is a developing story.
What you need to know about Oklahoma ahead of the College World Series
North Carolina will face a dangerous Oklahoma team that is on a roll.
Oklahoma (41-22) has been just as dominant. The Sooners, making their 13th College World Series appearance and first since 2022, surged through the postseason as road warriors. They won the Atlanta Regional by upsetting No. 2 seed and ACC champion Georgia Tech in the final, then swept Big 12 champion and No. 15 seed Kansas by a combined score of 21-3 in the Lawrence Regional.
The Sooners, who are 3-0 in Omaha after beating No. 7 seed Alabama and knocking off No. 3 seed and SEC champion Georgia twice, are seeking their third national championship. Oklahoma won titles in 1951 and 1994 and finished as runner-up to Ole Miss in 2022.
Here are a few things to know about Oklahoma:
Best player: Catcher Deiten LaChance
LaChance is Oklahoma’s most powerful hitter. He is batting .333 with 12 doubles, two triples and team highs of 16 home runs and 65 RBIs.
Throughout the postseason, he is hitting .326 with four home runs and 15 RBIs. In Omaha, he is 5-for-14 (.357) with one home run and five RBIs.
Strengths
Like North Carolina, Oklahoma is a balanced team that is good at a little bit of everything and is built to frustrate opponents.
Oklahoma is a balanced hitting team like UNC, but the Sooners have hit a few more homers with 91, compared to the Tar Heels’ 82. That is largely due to the Sooners smashing 26 home runs in their 10 postseason games. In Omaha, OU has homered eight times, including five homers in its win over Georgia in its previous game.
The Sooners have stolen 129 bases this season. That is good for 24th nationally and second in the SEC.
Pitching-wise, OU is 18th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings and leads the SEC in shutouts.
Weaknesses
The most glaring weakness is the pitching staff, despite its ability to strike out opposing batters and record shutouts.
The Sooners have a 4.98 ERA as a staff. Only one pitcher with 10 or more appearances has an ERA under 3.60.
They also allow 4.51 walks per nine innings, which ranks 138th nationally.
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