All season long, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder were quietly one of the best clutch teams in the NBA. They were at it again on Monday night and it may have saved the season.
SGA took control of the game in the fourth quarter after the Thunder offense looked dazed and confused for much of the night. Gilgeous-Alexander got help from Jalen Williams in the fourth — and unlike Dallas, Oklahoma City made its free throws late — which proved to be enough.
In a “how did this happen” game – the kind of ending that can turn a series around – the Thunder left Dallas with a 100-96 victory on Monday, tying the series 2-2 heading back to Oklahoma City for the game 5.
“[Gilgeous-Alexander] I caught that thing by the horns there late,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after the game.
Oklahoma City won this game with its clutch play – or Dallas fell apart, if you ask. In the fourth trimester:
• OKC was 7 of 7 from the free throw line, Dallas was 6 of 11 (54.5%)
• OKC was 4 of 8 from 3, Dallas 1 of 5.
• The Thunder were 2-for-4 on five-point second-chance shots.
What will keep Jason Kidd up at night are missed free throws – Dallas made 12 of 23 shots that night. That includes Luka Doncic, who had a rough night — 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting — and missed the first of two free throws with 10.1 seconds left that, had he made both, would have tied the game.
“We just have to work on the free throws. We only shot 52%. It’s unacceptable,” Doncic said.
For much of the night, it looked like Dallas’ defense would win the day. Oklahoma City was 1 of 11 from 3 in the first half, but the real problem is that they were also shooting 36% overall in the paint and 40% in the paint – the Dallas defense was taking everything away and had SGA and the Thunder wanted to do it (and did all season). The Thunder players were giving up good looks hoping that the next pass a teammate would lead to a big pass, but the Mavericks close down quickly and turn it into a contested look.
The counterattack ended up being a more aggressive Gilgeous-Alexander.
