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.