3 thoughts before the Dallas Mavericks face off against the Oklahoma City Thunder
The Mavericks try to bounce back after a Game 1 loss
The Dallas Mavericks will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of the Western Conference semi-finals Thursday night at Paycom Center. The Mavericks will be looking to even the series after losing Game 1. They’ll need to win a game in Oklahoma City to win the series, so it might as well be Game 2.
When Game 1 started on Tuesday night, Dallas didn’t seem quite right. It was obvious the Thunder had been getting rusty while they sat around anticipating their next opponent. Conversely, the Mavericks displayed some rhythm that they had carried over from their series with the Los Angeles Clippers. Nevertheless, the Thunder soon established themselves and proved why they are the top seed. To win and make it out of I-35, the Mavericks will need to play a strong 48 minutes on Thursday night.
Before the game, consider the following three points:
Rebound, just a little, please
The Thunder outrebounded the Mavericks 52–39 and outscored them 16–11 on the offensive boards. As a result, OKC had a 25–15 lead in second-chance points. That is simply unachievable when playing Oklahoma City. The Thunder’s defensive rebounding percentage at the end of the regular season ranked 29th. Following the all-star break, they tightened things up and finished 12th during that time. However, the Mavericks are more experienced, larger, and longer. They ought to be level with the Thunder, or at least winning the rebounding war. It’s risky to give a team like Oklahoma City more possessions because of their shooting prowess.
Doncic and Irving must be better
It may be in your nature to protect the Mavericks’ talented backcourt tandem. “They lead this team every night; why is there never another player to take the field when they are having a bad game?”
However, that is not the Mavericks’ design. Because Doncic and Irving can more than handle the load on offense, Dallas can afford to have defensively minded but offensively limited role players like P.J. Washington, Derrick Jones Jr., and Dereck Lively II. The two superstars of the Mavericks take care of getting buckets without the help of their role players. However, Dallas simply lacks another way to generate offense if they don’t. It is surefire when Doncic and Irving combine for less than forty points, like they did in the first game.
Make free throws, I’m begging you
In Game 1, the Mavericks shot 68 percent, going 17 of 25 from the charity stripe. Although it had no bearing on the outcome, this series won’t be a parade of blowouts. There are going to be close games. Against a squad like the Thunder, Dallas cannot afford to take the chance of missing one or two free throws. The Mavericks have struggled with free throw shooting for the past few years, for whatever reason. They need to figure that out quickly, before it costs them a close game at the most inconvenient time.
