Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks are back in it.
The Mavericks, after a blowout loss to kick off the series, powered past the Oklahoma City Thunder 119-110 on Thursday night at the Paycom Center. The win tied the series 1-1 as it heads to Dallas for Game 3 on Saturday night. It also was Oklahoma City‘s first defeat in this year’s playoffs.
Dončić nearly had a triple-double and P.J. Washington erupted with a playoff-career high 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, to push the Mavericks to the win. Their 119 points was the most the Thunder have allowed this postseason after the top seed in the Western Conference flew past the New Orleans Pelicans in the opening round.
Mavericks hang on late
Dončić and the Mavericks came out hot in the first quarter, and he went on triple-double watch almost immediately. Dončić put up 16 points and hit four of the Mavericks’ eight 3-pointers in the opening period to put them ahead instantly. He accounted for 24 of Dallas’ 36 points in the first quarter.
The Mavericks’ lead was cut to four points at the end of the first quarter after Thunder center Chet Holmgren pulled off a ridiculous buzzer-beater off a full-court inbounds pass.
While the Mavericks nearly pulled away before halftime and mounted a 15-point lead, Oklahoma City went on a 15-4 run to cut the score back to a single possession. Despite allowing 68 first-half points, the Thunder entered the locker room down just five points at the break.
Aaron Wiggins provided a huge spark for the Thunder to kick off the second half. After starting the third quarter in place of Josh Giddey, Wiggins led the Thunder on a 13-4 burst and he gave them their first lead of the game on a clutch floater in the lane.
That, though, was as big of a lead