The last time these teams met they served up the lowest-scoring game of the season with the OKC Thunder registering a meager 78 points.
The big news was neither superstar would be playing for the Mavericks as both Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis were out as the Mavericks elected to rest them. Perhaps Rick Carlisle thought this would be an easy win for Dallas. After holding OKC to 78 points that strategy might have been reasonable — but not if you’ve watched this Thunder club all season.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander picked up right where he left off before the break with another efficient night at the office.
The game marked the one-year anniversary of the night the NBA shut down after Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. That event occurred at Chesapeake and was top of mind on this day.
Unlike the last time, the Thunder and Mavericks met this game as the preview warned was a much more robust offensive affair.
With the Mavericks playing on the second night of a back-to-back the Thunder jumped on them from the tip building a 35-19 lead and rode that to game end.
Dallas made runs but each time they threatened to erase the lead OKC collected a timely basket. Case in point, in the third quarter Dallas cut the lead to eight but Al Horford hit a 3-pointer to pull the lead back to double-digits.
The perimeter was on fire for the OKC Thunder as they collected 16 triples on 32 attempts for a 50 percent efficiency. All five starters hit at least one 3-pointer and SGA was the only starter not to register multiple 3-pointers.
The home town Thunder won most of the big categories killing the Mavs 60 to 49 on the boards, and outscoring them 50 to 34 in the paint.
With that, let’s dive into the player grades…