The Oklahoma City Thunder have one of the brightest futures of any team in the NBA.
And their here-and-now isn’t all that bad, either.
But the Mavericks, who got burned by their neighbors to the north earlier this season at American Airlines Center, took a measure of revenge Monday night.
With Luka Dončić throwing down another super-sized performance, the Mavericks took charge late in the first half and rolled late to a 121-114 victory over the youthful Thunder at AAC.
Dončić had 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists– doing almost all his damage through three quarters.
The Mavericks went up by 14 points with a late push in the first half and never let the situation get dire in the final two quarters.
They pushed their record to 14-13 and stopped a two-game slide that had stalled some nice momentum from four wins in five games. The Thunder were finishing a five-game road trip, on which they went 2-3 and fell to 11-16 overall.
Dončić got great support in the form of 20-point nights from Spencer Dinwiddie and Tim Hardaway Jr. to combat a 42-point night from OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Dinwiddie also had 10 assists and seven rebounds, meaning both he and Dončić were flirting with triple-doubles.
“Both of those two guys almost had triple-doubles,” Hardaway said. “We already know with Luka (who has six this year), but with Spence, he’s had a couple games now where he was right on the brink of it. It makes it easier for us. Our job is just to stay ready, knock down shots when open, step into them with confidence.”
And they came alive after a miserable first quarter of shooting, when they hit only 23 percent from the field and just 20 percent (3-of-15) from three-point land.
“Today, I told them we’re getting great shots,” Dončić said. “You can’t get better shots than that. Just keep going and that’s what we did. We kept sharing the ball. It’s open shots, you’re not going to get a better one in the NBA, so we did. And that’s how we won.”
Said Hardaway: “A lot of those shots were wide-open. It’s not like we’re airballing them or missing terribly bad. A lot of shots are in and out. Trust your work and shoot them with confidence.”
Their outing helped remove the stench of a miserable weekend. The Mavericks had missed six consecutive free throws on Friday night to lose a home game against Milwaukee 106-105. That game didn’t end until nearly midnight.
They got to their Chicago hotel at 4 a.m., were on the bus to the arena about 12 hours later and were hammered by the Bulls 144-115 with Luka sitting out.
He was back Monday, but the Mavericks played without Josh Green, who suffered a sprained right elbow on a fast break in Saturday’s game at Chicago. He will be re-evaluated “in a couple games,” coach Jason Kidd said.
The Mavericks did have Maxi Kleber, however, after he was questionable throughout the day. He was deemed available from his right foot soreness about an hour before gametime. He responded with eight points and seven rebounds as the Mavericks did a commendable job on the boards.
Unfortunately, it didn’t really matter who the Mavericks had on the court when it came to shooting the basketball. In the first quarter, they couldn’t do it.
When the Mavericks warmed up, they overcame the 28-23 first-quarter deficit quickly. And they actually took control of the situation in the final four minutes of the first half, when they used a 21-7 charge to go up 66-52 at the break.
As quickly as they had give up the 12-0 lead at the start of the game, you had to figure a 14-point halftime advantage was not entirely safe.
But the Mavericks never let the Thunder get closer than five points and when Hardaway took a hard charge with 3:07 to go, the Mavericks got a Luka score at the other end and were up 117-106.
It was a good night to get revenge on the Thunder, which came into AAC and overcame a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter for an overtime win on Oct. 29. The Mavericks know this team is built for the future. But they’re here-and-now isn’t all bad, either.
Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 30 points per game and riddled the Mavericks throughout Monday’s meeting.
“He’s beautiful to watch,” Dončić said. “He’s an amazing player.”
And he’s still young and will get a chance to grow with the Thunder as they become a more experienced team.
“They got a young team that plays hard, that’s fearless,” Kidd said. “I guess they’re sitting in a good seat. They got a lot of picks, but the picks they have taken are having success early. And with Shai and Giddey, that’s a heck of a backcourt.”
That would be Josh Giddey, the second-year do-everything guard from Australia who is one of the Thunder’s primary cornerstones for their future, which includes a slew of draft picks sprinkled over the next few seasons.
Twitter: @ESefko
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