The Oklahoma City Thunder, the youngest conference leaders in history with an average age of 23.4 years, are not ready for games. The audacity, the success, and above all, the energy of their youth, channeled by a majestic Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, ended the little resistance of the Dallas Mavericks (117-95) in a discreet game of their stars, the limping Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, handcuffed by the perfect help defense of their rival, which is ahead in the series (1-0) and is the only undefeated team in the playoffs along with the Wolves (5-0).
Mark Daigneault, coach of the Thunder and chosen Coach of the Year in the NBA, proved to be the perfect teacher of the nursery school he manages and achieved what many before him had not achieved: minimizing the production of Doncic and Irving to the extreme with an excellent defense on both, constant help, and Chet Holmgren as the last hatch to seal their penetrations.
Dort, Wallace, and Holmgren make Doncic’s night bitter
Lu Dort and the rookie Cason Wallace alternated to endlessly harass Doncic, whose right knee was touched and who, like Irving, found himself with the door closed to the rim by the ‘unicorn’ Holmgren on the few occasions in which he managed to get rid of their marks. The Mavs star finished with 19 points in a horrible shooting day (5/11 t2, 1/8 t3, and 6/10 tl). He also added 6 rebounds and 10 assists, but also 5 turnovers as a result of the exhausting pressure to which he was subjected.
Chet tonight:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 8, 2024
19 PTS
7 REB
2 STL
3 BLK
2 3P
The first rookie in NBA history to reach those numbers in a playoff game. https://t.co/E9vJUiTFHM
The same thing happened to Irving (20+6+9), who took his team on his back after the break after having scored only points in a first half in which the Mavericks barely survived (63-52) against their losses and their inferiority to close the rebound thanks to Daniel Gafford (16+11+5 blocks) after scoring only 19 points in that act between Luka (12) and Kyrie (7). It was a prelude to what was going to happen later.
The Mavericks have lost 5 straight Game 1s. pic.twitter.com/U5OpFJPqNu
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 8, 2024
Irving made his team dream with a great performance after the break (66-55), but it was a mirage because between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Joe‘s triples, they created a 14-4 run to abort the reaction. Irving tried again later with five points in a row (96-87), but the Thunder secured the victory with a 15-2 run with triples from Jaylen Williams and Wiggins (his team scored up to 10 in the second half) and the crushing of an unstoppable Shai.
Shai, absolutely unstoppable
The Oklahoma star, who this season has had 51 games with 30 or more points, the third in history with the most games like this, adding at least 50% in shooting and 2 steals along with Michael Jordan and Stephen Curry, showed himself again unapproachable by scoring 29 points (6/15 t2, 2/4 t3, and 11/13 tl), 9 rebounds, 9 assists, one steal, and two blocks.
Doncic’s anger
Mark Daigneault, coach of the Thunder, highlighted Lu Dort’s great defense against Doncic: “He is simply a warrior. He makes the most of his rivals every night. Against Doncic, it is a really difficult matchup. He is a great player who did not have “I think we can expect them to play better than this,” he added. to do is underestimate this opponent.”
We lost. We just have to move on to the next game. We have to be better.
Luka Doncic (Mavericks player)
Luka did not take very well the question from a journalist who asked him about the reasons for his erratic night at pitches: “Who cares?” the Slovenian responded with a grim expression. “We lost. We just have to move on to the next game. have to be better,” he said. That next match will be played in the early hours of Thursday to Friday at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma.
