Mussatto: How on earth did Thunder pull off Game 4 win vs Mavericks? OKC 'in a series now'
DALLAS — Mavericks fans filled the aisles of American Airlines Center in a collective dumbfounded daze. The cavernous arena, so boisterous for much of the night, was joyless, save for a smattering of Thunder fans who broke the silence with their barking.
“How did they lose that game?” one Mavs fan said.
How did the Thunder win it?
How did the Thunder beat the Mavericks 100-96 in Game 4?
If the Thunder survives this Western Conference semifinal series, we’re going to be circling back to that question time and again.
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Because the Thunder was dead. Not just in this game, but in these playoffs. Teams that go down 3-1 in a series get eliminated 95% of the time. It sounds elementary, but the difference between tying a series 2-2 or going down 1-3 is immense.
“All day I could feel it,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I knew what the stakes were tonight for sure.”
But it was the Mavericks that played with more desperation early on. With Daniel Gafford swatting shots, Derrick Jones Jr. diving for loose balls, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving D’ing up and P.J. Washington talking trash, Dallas was the aggressor.
It looked as if the Mavericks had snatched the Thunder’s soul. Game over, series all but over.
But Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had the magic elixir. He revived the Thunder with one mid-range jumper after another. He ventured into the teeth of the Mavericks’ defense and kicked out to teammates who had missed 3-pointers all night until they didn’t.
The Thunder shot 3 of 19 from 3-point range in Quarters 1 through 3 before going 4 of 8 in the fourth, including a pair of clutch makes from Chet Holmgren and Lu Dort.
More: Charles Barkley says Thunder 'got lucky' with off nights from Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving
Not so clutch was Doncic, who missed the first of two free throws that would’ve tied the game with 10 seconds left. Then it was Holmgren, a rookie, who made two free throws to ice the game.
The Mavericks went 12 of 23 (52%) from the foul line. The Thunder went 23 of 24 (96%).
Free throw shooting helps explain how the Thunder won a game in which it shot 38% from the field. A game in which Dort and Jalen Williams didn’t make anything until the fourth quarter. A game in which SGA made zero shots at the rim but went 10 of 14 on non-paint 2s.
Sure, Doncic and Irving only combined to score 27 points, but the Mavericks had control throughout.
How did the Thunder win that game? Mark Daigneault was among the few who wasn’t thinking that.
“Not with this team,” Daigneault said. “These guys, they’ve proven time again that they can rise to competitive challenges … I’m at the point where I’m not surprised by our team.
“We’re in a series now.”
More: How OKC Thunder's Mark Daigneault ascended from UConn manager to NBA Coach of the Year
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder 'not surprised' by comeback vs Mavericks in NBA playoffs
