NBA Playoffs – playoffs – working day 32
With a purposely missed free throw, the Dallas Mavericks have reached the NBA Western Conference finals for the second time in three years. Led by Slovenian guard Luka Dončić, the Texan team beat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City Thunder this Saturday after trailing on the scoreboard for almost the entire game. They won 2-4 in the West semifinal with a home victory by a single point 117-116 in which Dončić added 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, a triple double that led his team to victory. It is the fourth time in this year’s playoffs that the Slovenian has reached double figures in points, assists and rebounds.
The Mavericks were left out of the playoffs last year. They had a sad end to the season in which they were even fined for allowing themselves to win in the hope of having better options in the draft. The rookie they chose in the first round, Dereck Lively II, contributed to this Saturday’s victory with 15 rebounds and 12 points. Dončić and Lively were joined by the good game of Derrick Jones Jr (22 points) and the awakening in the second half of Kyrie Irving, who in the end added another 22 points. Dončić celebrated the victory by giving Irving a big hug. The couple who had no chemistry a year ago now understand each other perfectly. Opposite, the spectacular display of Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (36 points and 8 assists) has not helped Oklahoma City to force the seventh game.
The game became uphill for the Dallas team very early on and they worked again and again to come back. The scoreboard read 6-16 with just over three minutes played. The Dallas team got closer to 19-20, but the Thunder made another jump with a stratospheric triple by Jalen Williams at the end of the first quarter and a better start to the second and they escaped again (27-38). Led by Dončić, a 15-2 run put the Dallas team ahead for the first time in the game with less than five minutes left before halftime.
It seemed that they had already achieved the most difficult thing, but it was a mirage. They fell apart at the end of the second half. Off-center, more focused on protesting the referee’s decisions than anything else, they let the Oklahomans put distance on the scoreboard again. Another triple almost at the buzzer, this time from Isaiah Joe, left the score at halftime at 48-64, with Irving missing and Dončić lost his senses.
The Mavericks did not lose faith. He had to row again. Kyrie Irving recovered his aim, Dončić forgot about the referees and Lively II took over the rebounds. The Dallas team won the third quarter with a 35-26 run, so they entered the final period with a 7-point deficit. They had gone halfway and the decisive part of the game remained. Possession by possession, the Mavericks closed that gap and with four minutes left they tied the game (105-105) amid the ecstasy of the more than 20,000 spectators at the American Airlines Center.
The Dallas team took the lead, the Thunder responded and with 2:10 left, the score was tied at 110. A triple by PJ Washington and a two-pointer by Derrick Jones Jr. put the Dallas team ahead (115-110). with 1:11 left. The Thunder showed their pride. Gilgeous-Alexander made a three-pointer, the Mavericks missed and then made the mistake of a flagrant foul that gave Oklahoma a shot and possession, which they took advantage of with a spectacular alley oop from rookie Chet Holmgren on a pass from Gilgeous-Alexander. Suddenly, the Thunder were ahead again (115-116) in the absence of final possession.
With time running out, PJ Washington, a midseason reinforcement, went to shoot a 3-pointer and was fouled by Gilgeous-Alexander. There were 2.5 seconds left and the Dallas power forward had three free throws. The first two came in crying and with 117-116 in favor, Washington intentionally missed the third, leaving the Oklahoma team with no reaction time, who could only try a desperate shot from their own field. The Thunder, the best team in the West in the regular season, are left out in a power-to-power game decided from the free throw line.
Dallas Mavericks awaits their rival for the Western Conference final. In 2022 they lost the Western final against the Golden State Warriors, the eventual NBA champion, in five games. Now, his opponent will come out of the life-or-death game this Sunday between the Denver Nuggets, current champions, against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the revelation team led by Anthony Edwards, the new NBA superstar. Nikola Jokić’s team fell in the first two games, won the next three with a great performance by the Serbian and Jamal Murray, and succumbed in the sixth to the defensive display of the Timberwolves, so that the series is tied (3- 3). With the Mavericks’ permission, this Sunday’s game in Denver looks like the anticipated Western final.
In a day that promises to be heart-stopping, Jalen Brunson’s New York Knicks and Tyrese Haliburton’s Indiana Pacers also play this Sunday in the seventh and decisive game of the second East semifinal. The winner will face the Boston Celtics, who have seen their path paved by injuries to rivals and who are favorites to play in the NBA final.
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