OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points and nine rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the short-handed Dallas Mavericks 126-119 on Thursday night.
Dallas guard Luka Doncic missed the game with a sore left hamstring. He was ejected in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's game against the Golden State Warriors, ending his triple-double streak at seven games. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said before the game that an MRI scan of the NBA's leading scorer's injury came back “normal” and that it was likely to be a short-term problem. Kidd said Doncic will be reevaluated once the team returns home.
Oklahoma City took advantage of that. Jaylen Williams scored 27 points in his return from a right ankle sprain and avoided Tuesday's loss to the Indiana Pacers.
“He's getting more comfortable every night,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Williams. “He sees different types of defensemen. Kidd works hard and gets better and better with each rep. That's what I expect.”
Williams also excelled defensively. He had three blocks in the second quarter, including a highlight-reel hit on Kyrie Irving's shot.
Josh Guidi added 18 points for the Thunder, who finished 46-20, tying them with the underdog Denver Nuggets for the Western Conference's best record.
The Thunder used skilled passing to bounce back from the loss to Indiana.
“I thought we really got it going,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “It was a good response to the Indiana game where I thought we just couldn't get a great rhythm into the game for whatever reason. And it's like we want to get back on track very quickly. You can't control whether you go in or not, but you can control how you play. And offensively, I thought there was a lot of integrity in the way we played tonight.”
For the Mavericks, Irving had 36 points and a season-high 12 assists, Tim Hardaway Jr. had 23 points and Daniel Gafford had 19 points and 15 rebounds.
Gafford missed a putback attempt in the first minute of the game, ending his field goal streak at 33. In the end, he was just two short of Wilt Chamberlain's NBA record of 35.
“This streak is very impressive,” Kidd said. “Not a lot of people get into that vibe when you're talking about someone like Wilt Chamberlain.”
Irving had 20 points and eight assists in the first half alone, but the Thunder led 65-63 at halftime. Oklahoma City led 95-87 at the end of the third quarter, but held on in the fourth. The Thunder shot 52.3% from the field.
The Mavericks need to win often to avoid falling into the play-in tournament. The urgency of the situation sometimes led Kidd to disagreements with officials.
“The beauty of the NBA is that the best teams compete at this time of year,” Kidd said. “Both teams are fighting for something. So I thought this was a competitive game. There would be some missed calls, but that's just part of the NBA. You have to get over it.”
next
Mavericks: Host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
Thunder: Visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.
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