DALLAS, TX – The Dallas Mavericks (2-2) lose a double-digit lead to the Oklahoma City Thunder (2-2) and lose in the final minutes of game 4 on Monday night 100-96. The series is now tied 2-2 and Dallas will head to OKC for Game 5 on Wednesday night.
The first quarter was electric for Dallas, in fact the first half at that. Luka Doncic scored the first seven of Dallas’s first 14 points. He was quiet after that but guess who came along to save the Mavs yet again during the playoffs…. PJ Washington. Washington scored 14 points for Dallas in the first half and was 4-of-9 from downtown.
Dallas had their largest lead of the night in the first quarter when they took a 22-8 lead. The Mavs ended the first quarter up 10 points, shooting 5-of-11 from three-point range, 45 percent.
Second quarter started and ended just like the first quarter, it was raining threes in American Airlines Center. It seemed like they couldn’t miss there for a while. Midway through the quarter tha Mavs were 50 percent from downtown making seven of their 14 three-point attempts, led by Washington who ended the night with five made threes.
Dallas took a 54-43 lead into the half. The Mavs were led by Doncic and Washington.
Kyrie Irving was quiet in the first half only having four points.
OKC took the third quarter outscoring the Mavs 22-15 but Dallas still held a lead. Midway through the fourth quarter they still maintained a seven point lead. Washington led the Mavs with 20 points, Doncic had 17 points, and Derrick Jones Jr. added 13 points.
Jones Jr. stepped up tonight for Dallas as Irving didn’t seem to have the best night. Not only did Jones Jr. added significant points for the Mavs but he also played tremendous defense for Dallas and came up strong on big plays.
Oklahoma City took their first lead of the game with two minutes left in the fourth quarter and the key difference that let this game slip away from Dallas was free throws. The Mavs shot 12-of-23 from the line while OKC shot 23-of-24. When you have a four point loss, that is the difference between a win and a lose.
“We shot 52 percent from the line, that’s unacceptable.” Doncic stated after the game in the post game press conference.
The Mavs shot great from the floor, they drained 12 three-pointers and shot 40 percent from the floor. But with the 11 missed free-throws on top of giving up 34 points to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander OKC capitalized at the end giving them the win in Dallas.
Game five will be OKC on Wednesday night. Tip off is at 8:30 PM.
