Even after facing the beast of Dallas’ bigs, the Thunder still had a shot.
A wild sequence, with several monumental 3s, a couple lengthy replays, and one final opportunity for OKC’s Lu Dort to chuck up a prayer, saw OKC still within its right to cross its fingers.
But its miniature troops had taken OKC as far as they could in a 121-119 Thunder loss to the Mavericks on Sunday night at Paycom Center.
Its depleted core, tiny and tenacious, had fended off some reasonable teams throughout the week. It washed away Ivica Zubac and the Clippers. It handled a Pelicans team that rode to the Paycom Center in a wheelchair. And without Kevin Durant, it diminished Devin Booker’s Suns, shrinking Jusuf Nurkic down to its size.
But the Mavericks, without Luka Doncic, posed a far greater threat than any of them.
Oklahoma City’s small ball hit an inevitable wall.
On Sunday, Dallas outrebounded OKC by 24 — not too jarring a number considering the Thunder’s week without any centers.
But unlike most teams this week, the Mavericks abused the Thunder’s temporary dwarfism.
PJ Washington, a detriment to OKC’s mental health by now, snagged 17 boards. Daniel Gafford & Dereck Lively II, a revolving door of chest-pounding bigs, combined for 18 of them.
Lively was far more prepared for OKC’s hive, beating the swarm with constant kick-outs from the post. Gafford didn’t care much for being gentle, shouldering his way through double teams and to the free throw line.
Dallas attempted eight more paint shots. The Thunder shot 15 more 3s.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander embodied a paint touch, sliding his way to the rim en route to 36 points and eight assists on 13-of-19 shooting. His lone 3-point attempt came inside the wild sequence that gave OKC life.
But Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder’s rare paint touches only amounted to so much.
It’s difficult to muddy the wall the Mavericks built.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder rally late, fall short to Mavericks
