Without Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks beat Jalen Williams and the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-119 at the Paycom Center Sunday night. The Thunder’s extensive injury report included Alex Caruso, listed with a strained hip, joining Oklahoma City’s three centers, Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williams, and Isaiah Hartenstein, as inactive. However, for Williams, competing with a thin frontcourt is no excuse for the two-point defeat.
After the game, he reminded reporters that the Thunder didn’t enter Sunday’s game with that mindset, per Daily Thunder’s Brandon Rahbar.
“That’s kind of a loser mentality. We’re not just trying to survive… Obviously, we want our bigs back and to be healthy. But we’re not victims.”
The Mavericks pulled ahead with a 14-point lead. The Thunder spent the entire second half trailing from behind, trimming their deficit to two points more than once down the stretch, including their final possession when All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was fouled intentionally. To avoid Oklahoma City tying the game with a three, the Mavs elected to send Gilgeous-Alexander to the line with 4.1 seconds left on the game clock.
He intentionally missed his second attempt, eventually leading to an off-balanced three-point attempt from Lu Dort that didn’t go in.
“They just kind of beat us up with second-chance points. Down the stretch, they got some big ones. We had a bad start to the game,” Williams said. “Whenever you have a hard start, it’s tough to overcome because they’re kind of in a flow. You’re kind of just fighting an uphill battle the whole time. You have to kind of stick with it. Basketball is a game of runs. We’re going to make some. They’re going to make some. They just ended up having that last run. I think, situationally, we gave ourselves a pretty good chance to win the game.”
PJ Washington led the Mavericks with 27 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, and Kyrie Irving finished with 23 points and six assists. Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 36 points, and Williams added 27 points and five assists.
Jalen Williams on facing the Mavericks after second-round exit
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Jalen Williams and the Thunder faced the Mavericks for the first time since losing 4-2 in the second round of the 2024 NBA playoffs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander spoke recently about losing to the Mavs, but Williams has moved on from what happened last spring.
“I stopped thinking about it the first training camp day,” Williams said. “But it is always fun to play them because it is like a playoff game every time we play. So, I think that definitely gives both teams reps of that. It’s always fun to have the atmosphere that we have and compete the way we do with them.”
The Mavs will host the Thunder on January 17.
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