Mavericks experience pays off in 17-point comeback victory over Thunder to win series

Experience can come with some pain.

Dallas Mavericks players such as Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving have that experience from past painful losses and it fuels them in big moments. The young Oklahoma City Thunder just got their first big dose of it.

P.J. Washington made two free throws with 2.5 seconds left in the game after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander fouled him on a 3-pointer — Oklahoma City challenged the call, but referee Tony Brothers said SGA made contact with the ball but didn't dislodge it, then made illegal contact with Washington's arm before the shot was released.

Washington’s two free throws put Dallas ahead 117-116, he then intentionally missed the third and the Thunder — without a timeout after the challenge — could not score.

The result was a dramatic, 17-point come-from-behind win for the Mavericks, which earned them a 4-2 series win and puts Dallas through to the Western Conference Finals starting Wednesday against the winner of Sunday’s Game 7 between Minnesota and Denver.

Kyrie Irving’s streak remains intact — he is 14-0 in closeout games.

“Being down 17 in a closeout game isn’t a position you want to be in,” Irving said, via the AP. “But that’s where we found ourselves. We had to respond the way we’ve been responding all season.”

Luka Doncic posted his third-straight triple-double — while playing through an ailing knee — rising up when his team needed him to lift them to the Western Conference Finals for the second time in three years.

Doncic got help, not just from Irving who scored 22, but also Derrick Jones Jr. who had 22 points as well. For a couple of games late in the series Jones was the guy Oklahoma City left open to double Doncic and Irving, and he made them pay. Then there was Washington, who struggled much of the night but hit the free throws that decided the game.

“It wasn’t Luka or Kai making the game-winner," Jason Kidd said via the Associated Press. “It was the trust of Luka and when the ball touches the paint, they collapse, he trusted P.J. We find a way to win.”

Gilgeous-Alexander played like an MVP candidate for the Thunder and finished with 36 points, while Jalen Williams had 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

It felt like Oklahoma City was going to force a Game 7 when it scored 24 points in the final five minutes of the second half to take a 64-48 lead into the break. When things got tight in the first half for the Thund, Gilgeous-Alexanderho took charge, was aggressive, and scored 21 points in the first half alone. However, in that final five-minute run, as the defense focused on him, SGA and the Thunder moved the ba,ll and seven other OKC players scored in that stretch.

At the same time, Dallas turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, which led to the Thunder getting 14 more shot attempts in the first 24 minutes (and 11 more 3s). That was the difference. Meanwhile, the Mavericks grew increasingly frustrated with the officiating, getting in their own heads a little.

In the second half, Dallas showed more poise, got a boost from the home crowd, and made the big plays when it mattered most — the kind of plays an experienced team makes.

Oklahoma City will have those chances in the future — this is a young team taking steps forward — and they now have a little more experience to draw on.