DALLAS — Sitting next to each other on a golf cart that zoomed the duo out of the hallways of the AAC arena, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams left Dallas in style as their exit resembled a scene straight out of a heist movie.
A fitting final image considering how the last moments of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 100-96 Game 4 win over the Dallas Mavericks played out.
Leading for a total of six minutes — and only at the start and late stages of the close contest — OKC completely flipped its odds from an insurmountable 3-1 deficit to a 2-2 tie in a series that will likely go the distance.
“I thought our ability to just endure their early punches and not being able to get back into the game for a long time,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said on their playoff win. “Our ability to endure that was big time. We held them to 15 points in the third in a quarter where we had 22 points.
“We were still laboring offensively. In the fourth, the offense turned for us. But to be able to defend like that in the third… It’s just great endurance by the team.”
In a stunning series of events, the Thunder utilized a strong fourth quarter to overcome a 14-point deficit and leave Dallas with a split of their two road playoff contests. A surreal result considering how the first three quarters went for OKC.
It was another slow start for the Thunder. The first frame looked eerily similar to their last two losses to the Mavericks. Dallas got off to a 22-8 lead. It was as bad of a start as someone could’ve imagined. After the first quarter, OKC had a 30-20 deficit.
Both teams exchanged baskets in the second quarter. The Mavericks’ 24-point frame put the Thunder in a 54-43 deficit at halftime. Through two quarters, OKC’s beautiful regular-season offense was uglified in the postseason.
The third quarter turned into a defensive slugfest that resembled early 2000s basketball. The Thunder cut their deficit with a 22-15 third-frame advantage and entered the fourth quarter with a surprisingly manageable 69-65 deficit. Even though OKC was technically still in the contest, it never felt like it would seriously push Dallas as points seldom materialized.
But that quickly changed.
The opening moments of the fourth quarter saw the Thunder get it to the closest it’s been in a while. Lu Dort nailed a corner 3-pointer to make it a 73-70 contest less than 90 seconds into the frame. Suddenly, it was a one-possession fight.
The Mavericks responded with a 7-2 run to push their lead back to eight points with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Thunder got it back to within four points as Jalen Williams hit a floater and completed the flashy and-one score at the free-throw line. The second-year wing flung his arm in celebration towards his bench as he badly needed the basket after a rough opening three quarters.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took control of the contest and scored eight straight points for the Thunder on pull-up jumpers and a driving floater. During that stretch, it was suddenly an 86-84 contest thanks to a baseline fadeaway by the MVP runner-up. Dallas held onto a slight lead with 4:45 left.
The Mavericks failed to score on a pair of looks on the next possession and Gilgeous-Alexander scored again for OKC with a fadeaway jumper as he let the shot off from behind the basket. The incredibly difficult basket tied the game at 86 apiece with four minutes left.
“That was ill-advised,” Gilgeous-Alexander joked on his game-tying basket.
It was an official takeover by Gilgeous-Alexander. Facing the possibility of a 3-1 deficit that likely would’ve all but ended their season, the MVP runner-up single-handily wielded OKC back to a tied game down the stretch. An unfathomable reality just 30 minutes before.
Gilgeous-Alexander further stunned the Dallas crowd when he kicked out a pass to Chet Holmgren at the right-corner spot he swished in. The seven-footer has struggled with his outside shot but hit arguably his biggest 3-pointer of his career to give OKC the surreal 89-86 lead with 3:24 left.
An alley-oop by Dereck Lively II cut it back to a one-point lead for the Thunder, but Dort immediately pushed it back to a four-point advantage on the other end.
Holding a tight 92-91 lead, Williams tightly walked a fine line at the baseline — avoided going out of bounds — and viciously slammed the basket for the 94-91 advantage with 1:29 left. Next possession, he scored on the leak out with a transition layup after the Mavericks turned it over.
As the crowd rained boos, the Thunder built a shocking 96-91 lead with 1:07 left.
Lively II split a pair of free throws on the other end and a Derrick Jones Jr. dunk cut OKC’s lead to 96-94 with 33 seconds left. Gilgeous-Alexander missed a stepback jumper and Luka Doncic — who had a quiet night — drew a shooting foul on Dort and had a chance to tie it up with 10 seconds left.
Instead, Doncic clanked the first attempt. An absolute shocker of a miss. He made the costly second one.
Only leading by one, Holmgren drew the intentional foul and swished in both free-throw attempts in a loud, hostile environment to give OKC a 98-95 lead with nine seconds.
The Thunder intentionally fouled P.J. Washington and the sharpshooter had a poorly timed miss on his first free-throw attempt. He made the second attempt but with just three seconds left, all OKC had to do was make its attempts on the other end.
Fittingly enough, Gilgeous-Alexander did that as he scored the game’s final two points. A stunned Mavericks crowd couldn’t believe what just transpired. The Thunder had a 35-27 fourth-quarter scoring advantage to steal Game 4.
“He hit like eight in a row or something,” Williams said about Gilgeous-Alexander’s closeout job. “It’s just kinda some of them probably look like tough shots. But that’s part of it. You work out to get those shots. To people watching, it’s, ‘Oh, he should pass it.’ But those are shots we want him to shoot.”
After all that, the series is now tied at two apiece heading back to OKC. This Round 2 matchup will see at least six games — likely seven.
The Thunder shot 38% from the field and went 7-of-27 (25.9%) from 3. The best 3-point shooting squad during the season has gone ice-cold in its last three contests. It didn’t come back to haunt them this time though. A 23-of-24 night from the free-throw line made up for the missed shot attempts.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 34 points on 14-of-27 shooting, eight rebounds and five assists. Williams had a gusty 14 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Holmgren finished with 18 points and nine rebounds. Dort totaled 17 points and held Doncic to another subpar outing.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks shot 41% from the field and went 12-of-35 (34.3%) from 3. An ugly 12-of-23 night from the free-throw line is the biggest culprit of this grueling loss for them. They had 26 assists on 36 baskets.
Doncic was held to 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. He shot 2-of-9 from 3. He finished with more turnovers — seven — than made field goals — six. Kyrie Irving had another quiet night with nine points and nine assists.
Dallas’ star duo have not been amazing in this series. Instead, the Mavericks have relied on their supporting cast to pick up the two wins they did. That didn’t happen in Game 4. Washington finished with 21 points but on 7-of-19 shooting and 5-of-11 from 3. Jones Jr. had 17 points.
When push came to shove, the Thunder’s duo of Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams stepped up to win what was essentially a must-win contest. It might’ve been an ugly first three quarters, but OKC’s top-two scorers outdueled Dallas’ when the pressure was at its highest.
“The ability to kinda endure when the wind is in your face,” Daigneault said. “Just keep the game in striking distance and letting it turn was incredibly mature I thought.”
The Thunder return to OKC with the series tied at 2-2. This was likely the hope as a split in Dallas gives them homecourt advantage back. Just an unreal and season-altering 12 minutes for the young squad.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus
In one of the biggest moments of his career, Gilgeous-Alexander hit it out of the ballpark with a monster outing.
In 42 minutes, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 34 points on 14-of-27 shooting, eight rebounds and five assists. He shot 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Mounting a comeback, the 25-year-old scored 10 points in the fourth quarter — including eight straight points for OKC at one point.
This was the type of outing the Thunder needed from the MVP runner-up. Gilgeous-Alexander needed to unload on offense and leave everything on the court in Game 4 to avoid falling to a 3-1 series hole.
He did exactly that as the Mavericks had no answer for Gilgeous-Alexander. He got to his spots with ease and the mid-range maestro got to work and slowly chipped away Dallas’ lead in the second half with 22 points.
Hitting tough shot after tough shot, Gilgeous-Alexander was easily the best player on the floor. His fellow MVP finalist counterpart looked like a shell of himself down the stretch. All nuance aside, this close contest can be boiled down to Gilgeous-Alexander outdueling Doncic in the clutch.
“Not a lot once you get into the swing of things and what’s going on,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on the pressure he faced in Game 4. “It’s hard to focus on anything other than what’s in front of you with each possession. But like all day, I could feel it. I knew what the stakes were for sure.”
The Thunder needed a monster performance from Gilgeous-Alexander and he more than delivered with a game-sealing fourth quarter.
“He obviously took that thing by the horns there late,” Daigneault said about Gilgeous-Alexander.
Gilgeous-Alexander added on his fourth quarter: “This was probably (one of) the most meaningful games I’ve played in my career.”
Jalen Williams: A-plus
It was a rough first three quarters for Williams. He started off 2-of-12 from the field. It looked like the Thunder would go down 3-1 in the series as their second-best scorer failed to put a stamp in Game 4.
That quickly changed in the fourth quarter.
Instead, Williams did what he’s done all season and hit some timely baskets in the fourth frame to seal a close win for OKC. Half of his 14 points came in the final quarter.
Williams hit a pair of massive baskets at the rim to push the Thunder’s lead to five points with a little over a minute left. Late-game shenanigans aside, those four points essentially served as the daggers for OKC’s improbable win.
In 41 minutes, Williams finished with 14 points on 5-of-19 shooting, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals. Not the prettiest efficiency but the volume is what OKC hopes to get from him for the rest of the series.
The Thunder had to empty the tank and Williams did that by stepping out of his comfort zone and finishing with the second-most shot attempts for OKC by a wide margin. This formula needs to be replicated for the remainder of the playoffs.
Even though he struggled for 75% of the contest, the last 25% was enough to earn high praise for this contest. In the biggest moments of Game 4, Williams helped Gilgeous-Alexander close out a thrilling road contest. That’s all that matters in the playoffs.
“In the playoffs, I think what I’m just kinda taking comfortable with is you have to take tough shots but you can’t let that affect the rest of your game,” Williams said. “… Just be ready to make plays. I gotta go down on the other end regardless — make or miss — and guard Kyrie or be able to switch on Luka.”
Chet Holmgren: A
Swishing in a corner 3-pointer, Holmgren gave the Thunder the go-ahead lead it wouldn’t surrender for the final 3:24 of the contest.
Three minutes later, the 22-year-old showed ice in his veins by swishing in a pair of free throws to push OKC’s lead to two points with nine seconds left. The rookie center was unfazed by the thousands of fans who yelled at him in hopes of a miss.
Holmgren was pivotal in OKC’s comeback win as the third piece of its trio to step up.
In 40 minutes, Holmgren finished with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, nine rebounds and four blocks. He went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.
It was another contest where the Maverick’s offense struggled. They were held to 96 points and shot an ugly 44% inside the paint. Dallas’ bigs were quiet as Lively II had seven points and six rebounds while Daniel Gafford had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams hit all the big shots in the fourth quarter, but Holmgren was a steady presence on his time on the court. He’s been one of the Thunder’s best players against the Mavericks through four games of this series.
“I’m not going to try to downplay at all, that was a lot of pressure to win that game,” Holmgren said on Game 4. “You never want to be in a 3-1 situation. It’s obviously a lot better to be 2-2 going home. To play a three-game series with homecourt advantage.”
Lu Dort: A-minus
Through four games of this series, Dort has done as great of a job as someone could’ve realistically hoped for defending Doncic. The Dallas superstar has yet to have a monster outing and was held in check in Game 4.
In 40 minutes, Dort finished with 17 points on 4-of-14 shooting and eight rebounds. He shot 3-of-10 from 3 and went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
The 25-year-old made Doncic earn all his buckets as he was held to 18 points on 20 shots. He continues to stay aggressive and fight over screens as he utilized his six fouls by finishing with five.
Dort also played his role in their fourth-quarter comeback. He totaled eight points and hit a pair of crucial corner 3-pointers down the stretch. The outside shots helped OKC overcome a 2-of-17 start from 3.
After a hot series against the New Orleans Pelicans, the streaky shooter has struggled against Dallas but his pair of makes in the fourth quarter were arguably his biggest made outside shots of the playoffs.
As mentioned, the other side of the ball has been where Dort’s value increased tenfold. Drawing the toughest assignment, the longtime Thunder starter has aced this series so far.
Injuries might be limiting Doncic, but Dort deserves a large portion of the credit for shutting down the MVP finalist. He’s been phenomenal on him and his one-on-one defense could swing the series over in OKC’s favor.
