Game 53: Oklahoma City Thunder (35-16) vs. Dallas Mavericks (29-23)

[donzingis38]

Stop messing around

[SleepingHero]

Wheels are coming off

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Lead is gone.

[donzingis38]

Like the Bucks game all over again. I hate second quarters

[BigDirk41]

Hopefully Mavs can get back on track. They blew the huge lead fast.

---

The refs are killing us

[SleepingHero]

GAFFORD WHAT A BLOCK

[dirkfansince1998]

Kyrie's shot selection is worse than THJs right now...

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Gafford is impressive.

[SleepingHero]

WHAT DEFENSE BY LUKA THERE!!! PUT THE CLAMPS ON DORT!

[dirkfansince1998]

Good defense from Luka.

[KillerLeft]

Good defense from Luka.

It really is just about how long this team can stay focused and actually try on defense. They do those things, they look like a good team, but they literally cannot do them for an entire game.

---

I like that they want Josh Giddey to shoot threes and it is working.

---

PJ is playing hard and has made a significant difference on the Glass tonight, regardless of how many rebounds he ends up with.

[dirkfansince1998]

Beautiful ball movement. Drive and kick.

---

Fully healthy Maxi is not only the Mavs best defensive big. Also the best perimeter defender.

[SleepingHero]

Mavs sort of regained some control.

What an offensive set where PJ passed up the open 3, penetrated, and got the ball back to him for an easy dunk.

DJJ also missed him wide open down low.

[ThisIStheYear]

Bad Luka shot followed by a bad challenge. Mavs need to get better in these end of quarter situations.

[KillerLeft]

Bad Luka shot followed by a bad challenge. Mavs need to get better in these end of quarter situations.

Yeah, the shot can be explained a little by trying to go for a two for one, but I still don’t like it.

Trying to take a charge there and then challenging the call were both stupid things.

[BigDirk41]

At least they still have a lead. Decent finish to the half.

[Scott41theMavs]

For all of the hand-wringing, OKC only outscored them by eight this quarter. Got to come out strong in the third.

Hope we get a chance to see this team with Lively and Exum healthy after ASB.

[KillerLeft]

At least they still have a lead. Decent finish to the half.

For sure. We shouldn’t be too hard on them if they don’t end up winning. This is one of the four top teams in the west, after all, and the current Mavericks have literally never played together.

All in all, I think that was a good half.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Plenty of game left. Mavs need to start strong in the 3rd. OKC is known for coming back from big leads.

[SleepingHero]

2nd quarter kind of had the rails come off. But I had some newfound optimism after the Kidd timeout where the Mavs locked back in and generated 3 straight dunks. 2 for DJJ and 1 for PJ. Kyrie also found a little bit of rhyhtm.

I'm glad they are doing this with Kyrie not even playing that well. Gafford's paint protection is real. He's less mobile on the perimeter and the Thunder are trying to take advantage of that with corner kickouts. Maxi is having a helluva game.

Luka needs to fix his shot selection because OKC will punish that every time.