Shocking Stat Shows Why OKC Thunder Beat Dallas Mavericks

The Oklahoma City Thunder earned a massive win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday in the NBA Cup quarterfinal. That win punched its ticket to the NBA Cup Semifinal in Vegas against the Houston Rockets. One stat shows how the Thunder were able to get over the hump against the Mavericks.

Dec 10, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Klay Thompson (31) shoots as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) defends during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The Oklahoma City Thunder earned a trip to Vegas for the NBA Cup final four, after a 118-109 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday in the Paycom Center.

These two. teams are familiar foes, battling it out in the postseason a year ago, to the tune of a six game series with a zero point differential. After the Mavericks bounced the Thunder from the NBA playoffs, and won this season's first meeting back in November, it felt like Dallas had Oklahoma City's number.

The stage was set on Tuesday for the OKC Thunder to attempt to get over the hump against the Dallas Mavericks and they did in a big way.

Oklahoma City earned a rare win over the Mavericks via its defense. Not only did the Thunder limit the Mavericks to just 108 points on the night and stifle Luka Doncic - one of the league's best scorers, who only posted 16 points on 15 shot attempts - but according to synergy, OKC only allowed 12 unguarded jump shots in the entire contest.

That mark is what doomed the Thunder in the postseason against the Mavs, with Dallas ball handlers spraying the ball around to open shooters in the corner. With the addition of Alex Caruso, the Thunder had more than enough defenders capable of collapsing the paint and flying out to shooters in recovery.

Oklahoma City executed its defensive game plan perfectly on Tuesday night, a scheme that was a carbon copy of its postseason plan. Send pressure to the rolling bigs and fly out to shooters, it worked with the Mavericks' big men combining for eight attempts on the night and the lack of clean looks outside.

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