Jalen Williams discusses his undermanned Thunder’s home loss to the Mavericks following a two-point defeat.
At the Paycom Center on Sunday night, the Dallas Mavericks defeated Jalen Williams and the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-119 without Luka Doncic. Alex Caruso was classified as inactive along with Oklahoma City’s three centers, Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williams, and Isaiah Hartenstein, due to a strained hip, according to the Thunder’s comprehensive injury report. But for Williams, losing by two points cannot be justified by playing with a thin frontcourt.
According to Brandon Rahbar of the Daily Thunder, he reminded reporters after the game that the Thunder didn’t go into Sunday’s game with that attitude.
According to Brandon Rahbar of the Daily Thunder, he reminded reporters after the game that the Thunder didn’t go into Sunday’s game with that attitude. It’s a bit of a loser mindset. We’re not merely attempting to get by. Needless to say, we want our bigs healthy and returned. However, we are not victims. With a 14-point advantage, the Mavericks took the lead. The Thunder were behind the entire second half, but they managed to cut the lead to two points many times in the closing minutes, including on their last possession when All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was purposefully fouled. With 4.1 seconds remaining in the game clock, the Mavs decided to send Gilgeous-Alexander to the line to prevent Oklahoma City from tying the score with a three-pointer.
He intentionally missed his second attempt, eventually leading to an off-balanced three-point attempt from Lu Dort that didn’t go in.
“They just kind of beat us up with second-chance points. Down the stretch, they got some big ones. We had a bad start to the game,” Williams said. “Whenever you have a hard start, it’s tough to overcome because they’re kind of in a flow. You’re kind of just fighting an uphill battle the whole time. You have to kind of stick with it. Basketball is a game of runs. We’re going to make some. They’re going to make some. They just ended up having that last run. I think, situationally, we gave ourselves a pretty good chance to win the game.”
Kyrie Irving finished with 23 points and six assists, while PJ Washington led the Mavericks with 27 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Williams contributed 27 points and five assists, while Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 36 points.
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