Mavericks Fall Short to Thunder, 118-104, Eliminated From NBA Cup

Dallas couldn't overcome 39 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Dec 10, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) drives to the basket beside Dallas Mavericks forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper (8) during the second quarter at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The Dallas Mavericks took on the Oklahoma City Thunder for the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup on Tuesday night, looking to build on their recent success against OKC. This budding rivalry added yet another chapter to its book in this game.

Dallas got Naji Marshall back for this game but were without OKC killer PJ Washington, who was out with an illness. Without Washington, Dallas started Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Quentin Grimes, Klay Thompson, and Dereck Lively II. OKC started with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, and Isaiah Hartenstein.

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It was an 8-0 start for the Mavs, with Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson each hitting threes. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wouldn't let that stand for long, as he scored OKC's first nine points before Lu Dort knocked in back-to-back threes to take a 15-9 lead.

A 6-0 run by the Mavs would tie the game at 15 before Klay Thompson answered a Gilgeous-Alexander teardrop to retake the lead 18-17. But Oklahoma City's defense would be the biggest story for the rest of the first quarter, forcing seven Dallas turnovers while OKC had just one. That allowed the Thunder to get out in transition and turn a 20-17 Mavs lead into a 32-24 OKC lead heading into the second quarter. A few of those turnovers were from Doncic trying to hit the home run pass down the floor that OKC would jump. That and Gilgeous-Alexander's 16 points were the big difference in the first frame.

Dallas would get the lead down to two in the opening minutes of the second quarter, but unnecessary turnovers were still killing them. They were outshooting the Thunder by 13% early, which kept the lead manageable, but turnovers kept them from getting over the hump, despite some wizardry from Kyrie Irving.

OKC's lead would hover between two and five for the next few minutes as OKC decided they were going to let anyone other than Luka Doncic beat them when Kyrie Irving was on the bench, blitzing Doncic on every screen set. Naji Marshall and Quentin Grimes were able to make some plays before another Mavericks turnover, their 11th of the game to this point, led to a Thunder three on the other end. OKC was firing away from downtown, shooting 31 first-half threes and making just 11. They came into the game attempting 39.6 three-pointers per GAME, so to shoot 31 in a half is absurd. If not for Kenrich Williams' 3/3 performance from deep in the first half, their percentage would've been pretty ugly.

Despite Luka Doncic shooting just 1/7 in the first half, 14 points from Naji Marshall and 11 from Klay Thompson kept the Mavs within striking distance, down just 57-54 at halftime. When you consider Dallas had as many turnovers as they did (credited with 11, there could've easily been two or three more that were classified as rebound scrambles), that's a win on the road. All they needed to do was limit the turnovers (easier said than done), and they were making shots.

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The Thunder started the half on a 10-2 run to open up an 11-point lead, doing a good job of keeping the ball out of Luka Doncic's hands while SGA continued to get to his spots. Dallas was just 1/8 from the floor to start the third, while OKC was 5/11. OKC then lengthened the lead to 16 with Doncic on the bench. Those shots that weren't falling in the first half were falling in the third quarter.

With a little more than four minutes remaining in the third quarter, it was getting to dangerous territory, and Doncic was re-inserted into the game. Dallas could get it down to 12 a few times before the end of the quarter, but SGA kept responding with impressive buckets to keep the Mavs from cutting it to single digits, and the Thunder took a 90-73 lead on a buzzer-beater by Isaiah Joe. After struggling to score as a team in the first half, OKC shot 14/27 from the floor in the third quarter and 5/12 from three, thanks to SGA's 7/8 shooting quarter.

OKC immediately pushed the lead to 20 in the opening minute of the first quarter, but Dallas quickly cut into it with a 10-0 run in a span of 1:38, shrinking the lead to 10 following back-to-back corner threes in front of OKC's bench by Kyrie Irving, including one over Isaiah Hartenstein as the shot clock was expiring.

A three-pointer by Olivier-Maxence Prosper cut the lead to eight with less than eight minutes remaining, but OKC immediately responded with an 11-0 run to push the lead right back to 19, getting five of those points from Cason Wallace and the other six from Jalen Williams. Klay Thompson would hit back-to-back threes to get it back down to 13, then Doncic banked in a three for a four-point play to bring it down to 11 with three minutes left. But a Lu Dort corner three to push the lead to 12 with two minutes left would ice it. Oklahoma City would go on to win 118-104, and the Mavericks are now eliminated from the NBA Cup.

Luka Doncic ended with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists, but his slow start was tough to overcome with just two points through the first three quarters. OKC did a tremendous job of keeping the ball out of his hands before Doncic forced the action in the fourth quarter. Kyrie Irving was also mostly limited with 17 points on 7/14 shooting.

Dallas was led in scoring by Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall, who had 19 points each. Thompson was 5/10 from three while Marshall was 7/11 from the floor and hit two threes.

All of those stats pale in comparison to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 39 points on a hyper-efficient 15/23 shooting, including 5/9 from three-point range. He was simply unstoppable in this game, getting to his spots at will and pulling up even with a hand in his face. Jalen Williams was their second-leading scorer with 18 points, followed by Lu Dort and Cason Wallace with 11 points each, and Isaiah Hartenstein with 10.

After shooting 11/31 from three in the first half, OKC was much more efficient in the second half, shooting 9/19. OKC won the rebounding battle 54-50, the turnover battle 18-13, and hit eight more field goals than the Mavs.

Dallas will play the loser of the Rockets and Warriors from Wednesday night later in the week.

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