In a game that went down to the wire, the Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Dallas Mavericks 117-116, losing the series and bringing a historic 2023-24 season to an end.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren combined for 79 points, but it wasn’t enough. The Thunder were outrebounded 47-31, allowing the Mavericks to come back from a 16-point halftime deficit. Luka Doncic had a 29-10-10 triple-double and rookie center Dereck Lively II owned the paint with 15 rebounds compared to just 3 rebounds from Holmgren.
Despite blowing their large halftime lead, Oklahoma City still had the lead late. With 20 seconds left in the game, Shai hit Chet for an electric alley-oop jam to take a one-point lead, but on the following possession, Mavs’ forward P.J. Washington got a late whistle on a three-point shot with 2.5 seconds left. Following a failed coach’s challenge by OKC, he was awarded three free throws. After rolling in the first two, he intentionally missed the third, running out the clock and punching Dallas’s ticket to the Western Conference Finals.
There are several reasons why Oklahoma City failed to win this series. Amazingly, it wasn’t a lack of defense like many other young teams who fall in the playoffs. They held Dallas to an average of 106.0 points per game this series, a very winnable level of defense. It was their top-3 regular season offense that let them down. Outside of SGA, Holmgren, Williams, and Lu Dort, no other Thunder players averaged over eight points per game in the six-game series. They also shot 51.8% in the paint this series, well below their 60.5% clip this regular season. Their outside shooting also dipped from 38.9% to 33.5% against Dallas, leading to rough offensive showings in almost every game. They couldn’t score inside or out, and their defense could only do so much to keep them ahead in games.
Nevertheless, it was still an amazing season by the Oklahoma City Thunder. They were the surprise of the league with a top-2 MVP candidate, the coach of the year, and the youngest 1-seed in NBA history. No matter how it looked in the playoffs, this is a team that is still on the rise with a ton of ammo still left in the chamber in the form of draft capital. They have superstars, glue guys, role players, and they all play a selfless brand of basketball. They’re built the right way, so we’ll just have to wait and see what the future has in store for the young Oklahoma City Thunder.
