GAME 6 Playoffs 2024: Oklahoma City Thunder (2-3) vs. Dallas Mavericks (3-2)

[donzingis38]

I thought that was maybe a mistake by Daigneault using the last TO if they lost the challenge. Tough call for him.

That's desperation right there. They knew it was a foul by Shai. They thought maybe Tony Brothers could help them one last time!

[BolsDamols]

[Chicagojk]

Thought OKC found something with Chet rolling to the rim. Got 4-5 easy dunks.

On the other side his three looks off now and only had 3 rebounds.

It will be interesting to see what they do this offseason.

One more thing, Hayward sucked for them. Awful. With that being said, I would gladly take him on a minimum. Not sure if he is what we are looking for or have space , but I still
Think in right spot he can help

[Chicagojk]

I am one of the biggest Hardy fans but I didn’t think he was ready for playoff basketball. He has game and is t afraid of the moment. He had some real nice passes in limited minutes. It will be interested to see if he continues to get minutes. Personally I think it is important to get Exum to play positive minutes in the next series.

Hardy stepped up though. Not easy to do in game 5 and 6

[MarkAguirreWrathofGod]

I am one of the biggest Hardy fans but I didn’t think he was ready for playoff basketball.  He has game and is t afraid of the moment.  He had some real nice passes in limited minutes.  It will be interested to see if he continues to get minutes.  Personally I think it is important to get Exum to play positive minutes in the next series.

Hardy stepped up though.  Not easy to do in game 5 and 6

He became a nice pick and roll playmaker for us these two games. Want to say he had three assists on that tonight. And his defense is better. Hit a clutch 3 on a pass from Green…

[Chicagojk]

Crazy Jones jr started the year off pretty good from three. Then had what felt like months where I had no confidence in him ever making a three. Only to hit them at the biggest moments of the season. His $ is going up

[Knutsen]

You mean Kendrick (sp?) Williams, right?

Yeah, I thought he made an impact in the first half.

Sorry for the late reply, was too busy chewing my fingernails to look into the forum in these last minutes. 

I meant Jaylin Williams, who was mostly getting the minutes at the five when Holmgren was sitting. Tonight they played them together in the fourth quarter and had more size and could defend unter the basket better. I had expected that counter way earlier, thank god they both missed pivotal three point attempts in crunchtime.

[donzingis38]

Thought OKC found something with Chet rolling to the rim.  Got 4-5 easy dunks.

On the other side his three looks off now and only had 3 rebounds. 

It will be interesting to see what they do this offseason.

One more thing, Hayward sucked for them.  Awful.  With that being said, I would gladly take him on a minimum.  Not sure if he is what we are looking for or have space , but I still
Think in right spot he can help

If they get a defensive center and turn Chet into a power forward, they will be the number one team once again.

[The Jom]

Thought OKC found something with Chet rolling to the rim.  Got 4-5 easy dunks.

On the other side his three looks off now and only had 3 rebounds. 

It will be interesting to see what they do this offseason.

One more thing, Hayward sucked for them.  Awful.  With that being said, I would gladly take him on a minimum.  Not sure if he is what we are looking for or have space , but I still
Think in right spot he can help

Really wonder if part of Gafford’s job was wear down Chet. Gaff struggled to score but landed body blow after body blow on twig. And my recollection says first quarter Chet shot the ball way, way better than second half Chet.

[The Jom]

Crazy Jones jr started the year off pretty good from three.  Then had what felt like months where I had no confidence in him ever making a three.  Only to hit them at the biggest moments of the season.  His $ is going up

If he shuts down Ant or Jamal, he’s gonna get even pricier.

[MarkAguirreWrathofGod]

If they get a defensive center and turn Chet into a power forward, they will be the number one team once again.

Glad they didnt luck out in the lottery an get Clingan. We also need Clingan to go top 2 to avoid him going to Houston or SA. Dude’s a game changer defensively.

[Chicagojk]

Really wonder if part of Gafford’s job was wear down Chet. Gaff struggled to score but landed body blow after body blow on twig. And my recollection says first quarter Chet shot the ball way, way better than second half Chet.

Yeah maybe.  Gafford wasn’t very good in this series but him and lively never gave Chet a breath the whole series by going small and allowing Chet to use skill.  They made him play against force all series.  Could have an impact on his shooting percentages.  I think he has that toughness.  Mavs were just too big.  He will be fine though

[MarkAguirreWrathofGod]

If he shuts down Ant or Jamal, he’s gonna get even pricier.

Thinking they need to get close to full MLE at this point to retain him. We need F. Gump to remind us (again!) what they need to do ? 

Basically dump THJ for free is the answer, I think. Will two 2nds do it?

[omahen]

Awesome game!!! I rarely complain about refs but I think they were awful in the first half. Just one example - Luka gets whistled for a blocking foul (the one they reviewed) which was a borderline one. Then immediately on the other side Joe is far less in position than Luka was and of course Luka gets called for offensive foul. Or this one for example - no foul on Luka TO but immediately a foul on SGA on the other side for something that looked just as much "all ball" as on the Luka TO.

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=29&GameID=0042300226&Season=2023-24&flag=1&title=Doncic%20Lost%20Ball%20Turnover%20(P2.T3)

Still, Mavs made a lot of unforced mistakes, but hot shooting when needed most. 47 % from three and role players punishing OKC defense for giving them the Giddey treatment. DJJ was naturally the big outlier shooting 4-4 from three in the second half. Lively had an awesome game and he absolutely dominated Chet on the boards. Another forgettable game from THJ, no idea why Kidd plays him together with Hardy. Another so-so game from Green. Should take some shots instead of passing, but hustled on defense. Hardy provided some offense and I don't think it was his fault for Mavs being -15 in his minutes. Luka had a bit of a sloppy start, but was super efficient overall. Again a great defensive performance from him (he should definitely get the defensive Dirkie for the playoffs so far). Kyrie was aggresive in the second half - not super efficient but I think it did open things and made life easier for rest of the team.

Mavs in 6, as I knew will be from the series start

[Chicagojk]

SGA was awesome. I knew he was great but he really was in this series. Seemed to make every big bucket when pick needed it. Great player.

Thought today was Jalen Williams best game of series. His defense was evident but he was very good in offense tonight.

Glad we didn’t need to go back to OKC to face those two in game 7

[omahen]

He became a nice pick and roll playmaker for us these two games. Want to say he had three assists on that tonight. And his defense is better. Hit a clutch 3 on a pass from Green…

Only one assist was from PnR. The other two were exploiting the room OKC defense gave him focusing on the stars. Both time a nice little drive on late defensive rotation and a lob to a cutting Lively. Great plays. Things Exum should be doing but didn't.

[vfromlmf]

Rarely feel this way after a win but it sure seemed like the refs did everything they could to force Game 7. At one point OKC had 30 more shots than Dallas. Thirty!

PJ was a major factor in the second half. Six minutes in the first and played the whole second.

[BolsDamols]

Mavs went from 38-44 last year to WCF, pretty pretty pretty good.

[LukaMVP]

league wants every series to go 7 but the mavs are just too good to allow it imho. mavs are indubitably a top 3 team now based on post trade records, and they're not even 100% with maxi out and luka injured.

[donzingis38]

SGA was awesome.  I knew he was great but he really was in this series.  Seemed to make every big bucket when pick needed it.  Great player.

Thought today was Jalen Williams best game of series.  His defense was evident but he was very good in offense tonight.

Glad we didn’t need to go back to OKC to face those two in game 7

Nah, OKC had to lose tonight. I don't think they want to face Luka in a game 7 and get eliminated in front of their home crowd.

Agreed, Shai was really really dangerous. He looked like a skinny Kawhi.