PJ Washington Leads Luka-Less Mavericks Over Thunder, 121-119

PJ Washington continues to terrorize the Thunder as they get back to .500

Feb 10, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) passes past Dallas Mavericks forward P.J. Washington (25) during the first half at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The Dallas Mavericks entered Sunday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder without Luka Doncic for the first time this season, who missed the game with a knee contusion. He's battled various ailments all season and was facing a potential matchup against the overly aggressive Lu Dort, so it's easy to understand him missing this game.

Without Doncic, the Mavericks started Kyrie Irving, Quentin Grimes, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, and Dereck Lively II, while the Thunder started Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Isaiah Joe, Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins, and Jalen Williams as they're missing almost all of their bigs.

READ MORE: Jason Kidd Speaks on Luka Doncic Knee Injury

The Mavericks roared out to an 11-2 lead following eight points from P.J. Washington, giving Thunder fans a flashback of last postseason's hot shooting from the forward. He'd hit his third straight three-pointer of the game to give the Mavericks 14, but the Thunder clawed back and tied the game at 14, scoring nine straight points in a little over a minute. Washington started the season just 7/32 from three and missed five games with a knee injury recently, so no one was expecting that start from him.

OKC would take their first lead of the game following an Aaron Wiggins three-pointer to go up 24-23. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was going basket for basket with the Mavs before dishing it to an open Wiggins, and Dallas didn't really know how to match up with SGA early despite having Naji Marshall on their team. They kept switching everything on the perimeter so SGA would screen until Kyrie Irving was on him.

Despite the Thunder entering the game with the league's best defense, leading the NBA in almost every major statistical category, the Mavs were able to score on them early, but stops were hard to come by on both sides. Thanks to some shot-making by Naji Marshall and Jaden Hardy, Dallas took a 39-34 lead into the second quarter. That was the Mavs' highest-scoring period of the season.

The Mavs opened up a double-digit lead early in the second quarter with some more good play from Washington, who was doing a great job on the glass and using his size against smaller OKC defenders on offense. Eventually, the Mavericks decided to take advantage of their size and dish it to Daniel Gafford down low if a possession was stalling. That was working, but so was Gilgeous-Alexander on the other end, consistently getting into the paint and making tough baskets.

Dallas also decided to take advantage of the Thunder's lack of shot-blockers by relentlessly attacking the paint, shooting 22 free throws and 24 field goals in the paint in the first half. That allowed them to take a 66-58 lead into the locker room at halftime.

READ MORE: 3 Takeaways From Mavericks' Bounce-Back Win Over Wemby-Less Spurs

The Mavericks had a five-point trip early in the second half, using a Dereck Lively II missed free-throw on an and-one opportunity, which was tipped out to Quentin Grimes for three. That gave the Mavs an early double-digit lead in the second half. But the Thunder would bring that lead down to two with eight minutes to go in the third, following some buckets by Lu Dort and SGA. Kyrie Irving would respond to that by being responsible for nine of the next 11 points scored by the Mavs, opening the lead back up to nine.

Both teams decided they were tired of getting beat by the other team's stars, so OKC started trapping Kyrie Irving while the Mavs did the same for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. This was leaving shooters open, especially for the Thunder, but players like Cason Wallace couldn't take advantage of it initially. After being so determined to take care of the ball and doing a good job of it in the first half, the Mavs had four turnovers in the final couple minutes of the quarter, but they were still able to take a 97-92 lead into the fourth quarter.

Spencer Dinwiddie, who had a couple of bad possessions to start the fourth quarter, then hit back-to-back three-pointers to extend the Mavs' lead to 11. Then, midway through the period, a sloppy Mavericks possession with two offensive rebounds turned into a contested Kyrie Irving three-pointer to extend the lead to 14.

OKC cut the lead to eight with four minutes to play following a made three by Jalen Williams; then he made another three on the ensuing possession to cut the Mavs' lead to 114-109 with 3:12 to play.

To follow that, PJ Washington cleaned up a bad Dallas miss with a floater, and then Kyrie Irving hit a three to extend the lead right back to 10 for the Mavs. Despite some unnecessary mistakes at the end of the game, including some bad throw-aways, easy baskets by the Thunder, reviews, timeouts, discussions about whether or not the Mavericks could advance the ball following a review, and a near-collapse by the Mavs with four turnovers on the last five possessions, Dallas would go on to win 121-119 after Lu Dort air-balled the last shot.

P.J. Washington continues to terrorize the Thunder after last year's playoff performance, finishing with 27 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, including shooting 10/10 on free throws. Kyrie Irving was also spectacular with 23 points and six assists. The Mavs had FIVE other players score double-figures: Jaden Hardy with 13 points, Naji Marshall with 13, Daniel Gafford with 11 points and 12 rebounds, Quentin Grimes with 10, and Spencer Dinwiddie with 10.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was spectacular for the Thunder, finishing with 36 points and eight assists. Jalen Williams wasn't too far behind with 27 points. Lu Dort also had a solid game with 18 points.

Coming into the game, Jason Kidd wanted the Mavericks to dominate on the glass and limit their turnovers. They did just that, especially with rebounds, out-rebounding the Thunder 61-39. They also shot 11/27 (40.7%) from three, just their fourth game above 35% from three this season, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Dallas now gets back to .500 at 7-7 and will host the struggling New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night.

READ MORE: Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic Falls in Latest MVP Ladder

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