Hard-nosed effort from Mavericks comes up short against Thunder

OKLAHOMA CITY – Even before the Mavericks took the floor against Oklahoma City on Thursday night, they felt like winners.
They had to fight this battle without Luka Dončić, and a gritty effort came up just short in a 126-119 OKC victory at Paycom Center.
But the Mavericks earlier had found out some good news about the superstar point guard. It appears they dodged a major bullet when it comes to any soft-tissue issue for Dončić.
While Thursday’s matchup with Oklahoma City was the center of their attention, it was with a sigh of relief that the Mavericks entered the game when they got good news regarding Dončić’s sore left hamstring.
“The MRI was clean and will be re-evaluated when we get back to Dallas,” coach Jason Kidd said pregame. “Very good news.”
With soft-tissue injuries like hamstrings, there’s always a level of uncertainty and concern with athletes. But it appears that Luka and the organization dodged a bullet.
With that the Mavericks could focus on the Thunder – until another injury cropped up.
With 4:12 left in the first quarter, Josh Green went down in the backcourt and limped off the court favoring his right foot.
He was diagnosed with a right ankle sprain and did not return. That further depleted the depth when it came to replacing what Dončić brings.
And yet, the Mavericks were hanging tough throughout this late-night affair, which started after 9 p.m., Dallas time, for national TV purposes. They were down by just 111-105 with 7 minutes to play and forced a Thunder miss. But P.J. Washington missed a three-pointer and Lu Dort hit one from distance for the Thunder to make it a 114-105 lead with 6:20 left.
From there, the Thunder kept the pedal mashed down and and while the Mavericks made them sweat, when Shai Gilgeous Alexander made a reverse layup with 1:15 to play, the Thunder were up 124-114. Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points for the Thunder.
The Mavericks got a monster night from Kyrie Irving with 36 points to go with 12 assists.
The Mavericks were fighting a tough battle form the start without Dončić. That’s a loss of 34.3 points, 9 rebounds and 9.8 assists. Nobody on the planet can make up those differences on their own.
So it was going to have to be by committee.
Dante Exum got the start for Dončić and either he or Irving were always in the game to handle the bulk of the ballhandling duties. But it was a team effort when it came to picking up the slack left by Luka.
“We’re still a team,” coach Jason Kidd said pregame. “The team concept gives other guys the opportunity to play more minutes. There’s not one person who can make up for Luka. We’re going to need the group to do that. We’ve had injuries before playing without Luka and Kai, so this gives us another chance for others to step up and do their job.”
The game had been tight throughout, although the Thunder eased ahead by 11 points late in the third quarter. A corner t5-hree-pointer with 25 seconds left in the third, however, cut the lead to 95-87 going into the fourth, giving the Mavericks a shred of momentum.

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