On May 8, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and the series between the Thunder and the Mavericks competed. In this game, the two teams played very closely, and the feeling was not very good, but the Thunder took the lead in entering the state, hitting the outside line one after another, and also occupied the initiative on the court in the second half, and then continued to open the point difference. In the end, the Thunder defeated the Mavericks 117-95 and got off to a good start, leading 1-0.
The Mavericks had a terrible game, as they only bit the score in the first quarter and fell into passivity in the second half of the second quarter, with the core Doncic in terrible form, trailing by nine points at the end of the first half. In the second half, the Mavericks narrowed the gap under the leadership of Irving, but then the Thunder opened up the difference again, this time the Mavericks no one could stand up, Irving's score was also powerless, the Thunder hit one after another, and the difference was directly stretched to more than 20 points, and the game lost suspense, and the Mavericks lost 22 points.
This time, Doncic was in terrible form, playing 41 minutes, shooting 6-of-19 from the field, 1-of-8 from three-point range, scoring 19 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and a whopping 5 turnovers, with a plus/minus of -21. In fact, the Mavericks' overall state was not good, there were 15 turnovers in the whole game, and the concentration did not improve, which eventually led to the loss of the game, and they were still very focused in the previous game with the Clippers. Irving still played well in the second half, but he still couldn't help the team, with 20 points, 3 assists, and 4 turnovers.
The Thunder have been very good this time, showing their energy, every player can step up and score points, and their Sixth Man fans have been cheering them on. Even though they were leading by more than 20 points at the end, they all stood up and cheered for the players on the court, which was very good. After getting off to a good start, the Thunder haven't lost in the playoffs so far, and have won five in a row.
This time, Alexander's performance was still excellent, with 29 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, completely suppressing Doncic on the opposite side. In addition, Holmgren also had 19 points, and Jalen found his touch in the second half and scored 18 points, especially in the final quarter, which helped the team directly open up the point difference. The Thunder hit 16 three-pointers and felt 45.9 percent of the game, which also allowed them to achieve a big victory.