Dallas defeated Oklahoma City 117-116, and with 2.5 seconds remaining, P.J. Washington made two clutch free throws to send the Mavericks into the Western Conference Finals. After the game, Washington stood with his arms crossed and smirking.
In Game 6, the Thunder had pretty well destroyed him.
However, Washington returned to Dallas when it was most needed. The 25-year-old did not make a field goal until 4:11 remained in a thrilling game, but he scored all nine of his points in the fourth quarter on Saturday.
A 23-footer from Washington knotted the score at 105. Thirty-one seconds later, he launched another deep shot as the Mavericks took a 113-110 lead. Even with the late comeback, Dallas trailed by one with 2.5 seconds left.
Superstar guard Luka Doncic remarked, “We said at halftime, ‘We’re not going to OKC [for a Game 7].”
In a game where the home team was behind by 17 points in the third quarter, Washington made sure of it. Dallas advances to the conference finals for the second time in the previous three years with the 4-2 series win. The Mavs will play the victor of Denver vs. Minnesota in Sunday’s Game 7.
Five things to remember from Game 6.
1. Irving’s “long time coming”
Since making it to the conference finals the last time, Kyrie Irving has spent the last seven years playing for three different clubs. Please pardon the 32-year-old for expressing feelings following his return on Saturday.
Irving spoke to the team after the game and acknowledged that he had to hold back his tears.
He remarked, “It feels like a long time coming.” “I reflect on the times in my career when I took the fact that I had made it to the conference finals three years in a row for granted. Being left behind will hurt you as a rival.
Irving advanced to an all-time NBA-best 14-0 in closeout games with 22 points, including 18 in the second half. Dallas advances to the conference finals as the third-seeded team in the 2020s.
To get there, the Mavs defeated the LA Clippers, the oldest team in the league, in the first round of the playoffs before defeating OKC, the newest, in the semifinals.
The following round will undoubtedly see a stiffer competition. Dallas faced the Nuggets and the Timberwolves in the regular season, finishing 1-2 and 1-3, respectively.
Doncic and Irving each played in two of the games against the Nuggets. Doncic missed two of the games against Minnesota, while Irving missed three.
2. Doncic is one of the greatest
Doncic recorded his seventh career playoff triple-double and third consecutive game with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. This is good for the second-longest streak after Wilt Chamberlain’s (4 games) and Nikola Jokic’s (4 games).
Doncic could have had a quadruple-double with three more turnovers.
All jokes aside, he became the fifth player in history to record three straight triple-doubles during the playoffs. It’s interesting to note that the 25-year-old scored more points this series on contested shoots (43.6%) than on open shots (42.9%).
In terms of points, rebounds, assists, and steals, the five-time All-Star led Dallas at the end of the semifinals. Despite OKC’s intense blitzing, Doncic made all seven of his turnovers in the first three quarters of Game 6, and none in the last quarter.
For the first time in Dallas’ postseason history, the team overcame a 16-point or greater deficit at halftime to win the game.
“There will be challenges ahead,” he declared. All you need to do is keep hoopsing and be positive. The series was won by us. That is ultimately what counts.
3. SGA transforms lightning into thunder
During the second quarter, the Thunder attacked with unpredictable and deadly intensity, leaving American Airlines Center eerily silent at halftime as the teams made their way to the locker rooms.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a game-high 36 points, is to blame.
With 4:54 remaining in the second quarter, Doncic made a 26-foot jumper to give Dallas their first lead of the game. After just one minute, OKC took the lead again thanks to a dunking by Chet Holmgren off of a Gilgeous-Alexander assist.
From there, the guests caused mayhem in Dallas.
In the second quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 14 points and disheveled four assists, helping OKC defeat the home club 24-6 in the final minutes of play. SGA scored 21 points in the first half, a game-high.
However, Dallas turned out to be equally responsible for its bad luck as the rival team.
In the second quarter, the Mavericks gave up six turnovers, which OKC used to score 12 points. Due to 12 Dallas errors, the Thunder scored 23 points overall in the first half. During that time, Doncic coughed up five of the giveaways.
4. The supporting cast of Mavs decided this result.
In Games 2 through 4, Washington put together three straight performances of 20 points or more, and in Game 6, they kept Dallas off the foul line.
Yes, for the majority of Game 6, the power forward was almost nonexistent. But Derrick Jones Jr. rose to the occasion once more, recording his third straight game in which he scored the most points in a postseason game of his career.
Jones scored 22 points, his third game in a row in which he scored at least 15. Only once in his career had he achieved that accomplishment, and it was earlier this season. So, there’s no better occasion to show off your best work than during the playoffs.
In the second half, Jones shot 6-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from long range.
Not to be overlooked when talking about supporting casts is youngster Dereck Lively II, who recorded his second consecutive double-double in the postseason while coming off the bench. Along with 15 rebounds, a block, a steal, and 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting, he also added a steal.
Lively played 18 minutes off the bench and finished at plus-26 to help OKC defeat the Mavs by one point.
“Plus-26 is ridiculous,” Doncic remarked, gazing at the stat sheet. “He has extraordinary potential. I’m happy he was selected by the Mavs.
You consider?
5. OKC will advance as a result.
Dallas eliminated the youngest No. 1 seed in NBA history, but OKC will likely return next season with even more fervor. The Thunder is designed to last a very long time.
And the scary thing is, those kids know it.
According to Gilgeous-Alexander, “We can feel it.” “We took a step in the right direction this year. It hurts this moment. You wish to win at all times. It has the potential to yield some positive outcomes. These kinds of situations are what create champions.
When it came to guarding Washington, OKC strategically played the percentages and lost to a player who shot 32% from long range during the regular season.
This series, Washington made 46.9% of its shots from beyond the arc.
If the Dallas wing had played as well as he did throughout the regular season, perhaps the result would have been different. After Washington scored twenty points or more in three straight games, OKC ultimately made the decision to “cut off his water” in Game 5, as Gilgeous-Alexander described it.
Gilgeous-Alexander stated, “The best teams are able to identify the problem and fix it really quickly.” “That’s what gets you the series victory in the end.”
