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MAVERICKS 104, THUNDER 92
he Slovenian Luka Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks with a triple-double in Oklahoma on Wednesday in the third win of the conference semifinal against a Thunder team that relied too heavily on Canadian guard Shai Gilgeous Alexander.
Doncic had 31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, Derrick Jones added 19 points and Kyrie Irving 12, while Dereck Lively, with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and PJ Washington, with 10 points and 10 steals, got double doubles.
The Thunder had won Game 4 of the series on Monday (96-100) tying it at 2, when Shai Gilgeous Alexander scored 34 points in the third consecutive game of the series in which he scores 30 or more points.
On Wednesday, he had 30 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists, while Chet Holmgren added 12 points, Luguentz Dort and Jalen Williams 12 apiece and, coming off the bench for the first time in his career, Josh Giddey added 11.
With two assists and a dunk by Gilgeous Alexander, OKC started strong in the first two minutes of play (8-2), but sank in the following (8-11).
Jones was the first player to reach 10 personal points three minutes into the opening quarter, turning an assist from Doncic into an alley-oop.
The second alley opp of the night for the Mavericks was signed by Jaden Hardy, on the pass, and Gafford, on the resolution.
With the Mavericks more successful from the paint and the Thunder from long distance, the first quarter ended with a slight advantage for the visitors (22-24).
Two alley-oops from Dereck Lively, coming off the bench, also assisted by Doncic, marked the first minutes of the second quarter and the Mavericks began to open a gap (27-35).
Another alley-oop served by Doncic, after the halfway point of the second quarter, was converted by Jones, who half a minute later hit his third three-pointer out of three attempts (33-45).
Gilgeous Alexander and Williams smashing the rim and Joe with his second three-pointer vindicated the locals, but Doncic reached his 17 personal points, Jones his 15 and the Mavericks, with better aim, managed to reach the break 10 points up on the scoreboard (44-54).
Doncic lays down his law
The first seven minutes of the third quarter were only successful for the Thunder Gilgeous Alexander, who reached his 20 points, while the Mavericks played more integrated as a team. PJ Washington hung on to the rim and nailed a three-pointer in a few seconds.
Doncic added 20 points from three-point range and with another long-distance basket Australian guard Josh Green scored the visitors’ maximum lead with 4:14 left in the quarter (56-71).
Lively, assisted by Hardy, scored his third alley-oop and Doncic, with his fourth three-pointer, this one with a step back, managed to keep the visitors’ lead at 12 points at the end of the segment (67-79) despite Gilgeous Alexander’s 24 points so far.
Doncic scored 8 points in the first two and a half minutes of the final quarter, three of them from a three-pointer more than a meter from the long-distance line (71-89) that Gilgeous Alexander answered with another stratospheric shot.
A dunk by Holmgren and a 3-pointer by Dort spooked Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, who called a timeout.
Another dunk by Holmgren reduced the visitors’ lead to 7 (83-90), but the Texans concentrated on defense and got their third win of the series (92-104).
