The Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a Dallas Mavericks franchise playoff-record 13 blocked shots to come back and win 100 to 96 on Monday night and tie the NBA Western Conference Semifinals at 2-2.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points in the game, but the end was where the excitement happened.
The Mavs led by 14 at the start of the second half, but their offense disappeared from that point on and the Thunder slowly came back.
Oklahoma City took the lead for the first time since the start of the game with Chet Holmgren’s triple to make the game 89-86 with 3:24 left.
Chet Holmgren and Lu Dort hit key late 3-pointers, and Jalen Williams snuck in for a rally for a 94-91 lead with 1:29 left as Dallas was asking for a violation that was not conceded.
The Mavericks’ last chance to tie came with 10.1 seconds left and trailing by two, when Luka Doncic had two free throws, but the Dallas star missed the first and that didnt helped the cause.
The teams are now tied with two wins each and a Game 5 that will be played Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.
P.J. Washington led Dallas with 21 points, while Doncic contributed with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Kyrie Irving had his second game of the series in single digits with nine.
Earning home respect
For the next game the Thunder look to hold ground as both teams have been trading punches in visiting courts.
It is unclear if there will be any modifications to the starting lineups coma Game 5 but some tweaks could be made for both teams, according to reports.