Oklahoma City fell, 98-96, to the Dallas Mavericks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the Thunder’s second preseason game on Wednesday night.
The Thunder and Mavericks struggled to generate offense. The former shot 42.7% from the field and the latter, 40%.
A last-second mishap led to the Thunder not getting a chance to tie or win.
It was an evenly distributed scoring game for the Thunder. The leading scorer was Josh Giddey (13), who only played in the first half. All 14 Thunder players scored at least two points.
For the Mavericks, rookie Jaden Hardy led the way with 21 points off the bench. Backup big Christian Wood tallied a 16-point and 13-rebound double double off the bench.
Let’s take a look at player grades for the Thunder in this preseason two-point loss.
Josh Giddey: B-plus
For the 17 first-half minutes he appeared in, Giddey left his mark. The sophomore guard finished with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting and four steals.
This included a shot-heavy first quarter where the 19-year-old went 5-of-8 from the field.
With the Thunder missing three of their top four players due to injury, this is the type of game Giddey should dominate and look to be more aggressive with his shot.
Jalen Williams: B
Jalen Williams was the second-leading scorer on the team with 10 points. The rookie guard shot 3-of-9 from the field but 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.
Williams has seen plenty of reps as the backup point guard coming off of the bench. It sounds like the 21-year-old likes that role as he gets more freedom with the ball.
“It’s been fun,” said Williams. “I like playing the point — you get the ball. But yeah it’s been cool… I think it just helped me learn a lot of the sets a lot faster.”
Aleksej Pokusevski: B-minus
Aleksej Pokusevski continues to look more like a finished product than raw talent in his second preseason game.
While he scored just eight points and dished two assists in 18 minutes, the 20-year-old played with better rhythm within the offense and was able to whip out some impressive touch passes in tight windows.
While it’s just preseason, if Pokusevski can carry this type of play into the regular season, he’ll definitely have a role on this team.
“I’m just trying to make the team function better,” said Pokusevski.
