In the second round of G4, the Thunder defeated the Mavericks 100-96 away, and the big score chased to 2-2.
In this game, the Mavericks came up with a wave of 22-8, which almost stunned the Thunder, and then for more than three and a half quarters, the Mavericks kept pressing the Thunder until 5 minutes left, and still led 86-80;
It happened in the next three minutes: Alexander hit three straight shots, Holmgren made a three-pointer, the Mavericks didn't score a point, and the Thunder went on a 9-0 run and held their slight advantage until the end.
Without a doubt, the MVP of this game is Alexander.
In the whole game, Alexander played a total of 42 minutes, shot 14 of 27, 6 of 6 free throws, scored 34 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 0 turnovers, and 11 of his 14 field goals were jump shots, which was quite explosive.
In the first three quarters, the Thunder was suppressed by the Mavericks, that is, Alexander was holding it alone, and in the fourth quarter, Alexander took over the game, from the key stage of falling behind to overtaking, he threw 1 throw and 3 mid-range shots, and felt so good that he could even make a negative angle emergency stop.
And, after making three consecutive shots, the Mavericks had to wrap up Alexander, and then Alexander scored three points in the bottom right corner of Holmgren and three points in the bottom left corner.
It's a bit of a shame that with 14 seconds left, the Thunder led by two points, and Alexander had a chance to kill the game, but his shot spun around the basket, and if he scored, it would definitely be in the Thunder's top 10 of the season.
And, the other three key cores of the Thunder:
Jayway was in a slump, shooting 5-of-19 from the field and scoring only 14 points, but fortunately, he also delivered 6 assists and 4 steals, and scored 7 points in the fourth quarter.
Holmgren was in good form, shooting 6-of-9 from the field for 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, and in addition to making a key three-pointer, he also hit two free throws at the end of the fourth quarter.
Dort had 17 points and 8 rebounds in the game, made 2 bottom corner three-pointers in the fourth quarter, and wrapped up Doncic on the defensive end.
Objectively speaking, the Thunder didn't play well this game, especially the benches, who played a lot of time, but combined for 4 of 15 and only scored 12 points, or rather, their role players in the past three games have not stepped up to provide the firepower they deserve.
The regular season has proven that Alexander can be 30+ per game, but it is not easy to make him 40+ per game, whether it is Jayway, Holmgren, Dort, Isaiah Joe & Jaelin & Wallace & Wiggins, the Thunder must have someone to step up if they want to win.
Let's talk about the Lone Ranger, it's a pity that I didn't take the opportunity.
Until the last minute, the Mavericks still had a chance to tie, but Lively hit one of two free throws, Doncic made one of two free throws, and Washington hit one of two free throws, and several key free throws were not grasped.
Looking at the full-court data, the Mavericks shot 40.9% from the field and 34.3% from three-point range, which is poor, but the Thunder are 38.0% and 25.9%, which is even worse, if you want to say where the Mavericks lose, it is free throws, the Thunder are 23 of 24, with a free throw shooting rate of 95.8%, while the Mavericks are 12 of 23, with a shooting rate of only 52.2%.
In the core comparison, Eastern Europe in this game is not as good as Alexander:
Doncic had a triple-double of 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, but he shot 6-of-20 from the field and 2-of-9 from three-point range.
Irving's performance in the second half and the final quarter of the playoffs so far has been very good, scoring only 5 points in the second half of this game, only 4-of-11 in the game, scoring 9 points, and although he also handed out 9 assists, it still can't make up for the low desire to attack. It is worth mentioning that this is the second time in the Irving series that he has not scored a double-double in a single game, and before G2, Irving only scored 9 points.
Of course, there are also highlights for the Mavericks in this game, PJ Washington.
In the whole game, Washington played a total of 41 minutes, shooting 7-of-19 from the field, 5-of-11 from three-point range, scoring 21 points and 12 rebounds, and his three-pointers alone almost caught up with the entire Thunder team.
Despite scoring just one point in the fourth quarter and making just one of his two key free throws, Washington was already doing very well as a role player.
It is worth mentioning that this is the third consecutive outbreak in Washington, after G2 and G3, he scored 29 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists, 27 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists respectively, with a total of 77 points in three games, while the previous five games combined only 46 points.
PJ Washington only came to Dallas before the trade deadline this year, when the Mavericks sent Seth Curry, Gervais and a 2027 first-round pick (only the top two picks protected) in order to get him.
But looking at it now, the D-level trade has become a miracle trade, and Washington's performance has been the biggest surprise of the Mavericks so far in the playoffs, shooting just 31.4 percent from three-point range in the regular season and 42.0 percent in the playoffs.
Back to this G4, in fact, the role players of the Mavericks played not badly, in addition to Washington, Jones also scored 17 points, Gafford and Lively combined for 17 points, and the bench scored a total of 8 of 19 and scored 21 points.
The key is the two cores, Doncic and Irving need to step up - we asked after the G3 game, how long can Washington's form last? How long can Doncic's knee last? Can Irving erupt in the fourth quarter? As far as this G4 is concerned, only Washington has continued its form, and Doncic and Irving have not met expectations.
In this round of the series, we said before the start that the strength of the two teams is very close, the record after the trade deadline, the Mavericks are third in the league and the Thunder league is fourth, and there are MVP-level players on both sides, and the team rotation is not bad, who do you think, who will have the last laugh?