SGA hits 2,000 points and more takeaways in OKC Thunder win vs Mavs

The Paycom Center was a loud house Thursday night. Loud City citizens were roaring—clamorous at every highlight dunk, defensive displays, and clutch baskets from their OKC Thunder. 

It was as if the playoffs came early. Sure enough, Oklahoma City looked sharp and in playoff mode. 

They took down the gutsy Dallas Mavericks sans superstar Luka Doncic, 126-119, to end the night with the number one seed. 

In what was anticipated as a marquee matchup between young Western Conference teams, the game was hurt by Doncic’s absence, as the Thunder faithful were only treated to another impeccable showing from Most Valuable Player candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 

Coming off a tough home loss against the Indiana Pacers, Gilgeous-Alexander made sure to get the job done against the shorthanded Mavericks, posting 31 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field and 12-of-15 from the free-throw line. 

“It was a good response to the Indiana game where I thought we, for whatever reason, we couldn’t establish a great rhythm in the game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said after the win. 

“That’s the sort of thing we want to get back on track very quickly. We can’t control whether or not the ball goes in, but we can control how we play. And I thought offensively, how we played tonight had great integrity to it,” Daigneualt added. 

The win improved the Thunder’s record to 46-20, tied with the Denver Nuggets for the best record in the West. However, the Thunder own the tiebreaker, hence taking the top seed after the victory.

Here are some takeaways from the win.