On May 14, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and the Western Conference semifinals Thunder challenged the Mavericks away. The last game of the Thunder lost, the big score was 1-2 behind, and this time it was also a back-to-back battle. The Mavericks came up with a hot momentum and always took the initiative on the court, but the Thunder successfully overtook in the last quarter and withstood the Mavericks' offensive in the end. In the end, the Thunder defeated the Mavericks 100-96 and tied the score at 2-2.
This result is definitely what the league wants to see the most, so that the competition for the semifinals will be more intense, and avoid the Thunder, who are the first in the West, from falling into a passive situation early. The Thunder did not make adjustments this time, Keady still started the game, but unfortunately the effect was still not good, the team fell into passivity early, fortunately this time they were not defeated, kept biting the score, and finally seized the opportunity in the final quarter, Alexander scored consecutive points, Holmgren and Dort hit three more points, successfully completed the overtake, and finally got a valuable victory, regaining home advantage.
Alexander played very well this time, putting out the second-highest MVP in the regular season, and even if he didn't get many opportunities to get to the free throw line, he still used his excellent individual ability to help the team. In the final quarter, Alexander continued to single-handedly match the opponent's hand, and after the Mavericks were trapped, he was able to find Holmgren and Dort, and both seized the opportunity and hit three-pointers. Alexander was 14-of-27 from the field and finished with a game-high 34 points, eight rebounds and five assists, as well as two steals and two blocks, and no turnovers.
Alexander's hot performance, Doncic and Irving were super hip pulled, unable to help the team hold on to the advantage. Doncic only scored 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting this time, and missed the opportunity to equalize the score by hitting one of two free throws at a critical moment. Irving failed to step up in the final quarter, scoring just 2 points on 1-of-5 shooting and just 9 points on 4-of-11 from the field, and it seems that he needs to adjust himself and play his aggression early.
Now that the score is 2-2 drawn, this is also the third battle of Tianwang Mountain in the semifinals, and the league is still very happy to see this situation, which means that each group series will have to play one more game, and it will also raise some attention. Originally, there were a lot of less teams in this semi-final, and if there was still a one-sided situation, there would definitely be no attention. Fortunately, in the semifinals, three of the four groups played to a 2-2 draw, and only the Celtics led the Cavaliers 3-1, which also changed the pattern, and any team could advance.