DALLAS — The 14th and final of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Game 4 makes was his most challenging. It came on the baseline, behind the backboard, after a pump-fake, lean-in and fadeaway, creating a sliver of separation from what Gilgeous-Alexander called a “double contest.” Tim Hardaway Jr. was on his hip. P.J. Washington was blocking his path to the rim. So he sent a rainbow over the top without clipping the corner.
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“That one,” he admitted. “That was ill-advised.”
Here it is.
This was the first high-stakes, season-teetering night for the contending era of this young Oklahoma City Thunder core. They trailed in the series 2-1 and fell into a 14-point first-half hole, failing to solve the Dallas Mavericks’ length and compact defensive scheme.
Their starting lineup still included Josh Giddey and had them down 14-6 before the first substitution. Luguentz Dort picked up two whistles in the first three minutes, saddling him with persistent foul trouble. Aaron Wiggins, the first Giddey replacement, faced a similar Dallas strategy. They cross-matched their centers onto him, like Giddey, clogged the paint and dared Wiggins to burn them. He, like Giddey and later Isaiah Joe, did not.
The Thunder only went 7 of 27 on 3s as a team and 6 of 17 in the restricted area. They didn’t burn the Mavericks over the top, they could rarely crack the paint and get attempts at the rim and, even when they did, they most often missed. In 2024, that’s an inefficient and near-impossible offensive formula to spit out a win.
But the Thunder did win 100-96, tying the series 2-2 as it heads back to Oklahoma City. How? Gilgeous-Alexander in the midrange, the entire team at the free-throw line and a vise-grip defense on the Mavericks’ two stars.
Without a clean path to the paint, Gilgeous-Alexander spent the majority of his time gliding to his various hot spots inside the arc, picking out a switch and matchup he liked — Kyrie Irving, who was in foul trouble, for example — and using his wiry strength to generate the space needed to get a clean enough look.
“Maybe at some point we’ve got to send a double team, too,” Luka Dončić said. “He’s just too good. Very good. But every shot he took, he was contested.”
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Below is Gilgeous-Alexander’s shot plot. He took and missed one 3. He missed both of his shots in the restricted area. He went 10 of 14 on longer midrange jumpers. He made four non-restricted area paint twos in the floater range. He joins Chris Paul as the only players to make 10 midrangers in a playoff game in the last five years, per ESPN.
“He hit like eight in a row or something,” Jalen Williams said. “It’s just kind of some of them probably look like tough shots. But that’s part of it. You work out to get those shots. To people watching, it’s, ‘Oh, he should pass it.’ But those are shots we want him to shoot.”
This is a rare chart these days.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s midrange mastery delivered the Thunder enough points to remain within first-half striking distance and eventually chase down the Mavericks. But Dallas was only within reach because the Thunder defense, for the sixth time in eight playoff games, held an opponent under 100 points.
“Our ability to endure the early punches … was big time,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “We held them to 15 points in a third quarter where we had 22 points. … To win a quarter by seven where we have 22 points was just great endurance.”
Dort — weaving through traffic, blasting around screens, attempting razor-thin contests while avoiding a bump or arm touch — used up his five fouls wisely in 40 careful minutes, shouldering the primary Dončić assignment again, helping hold the hobbled, frustrated, complaining Dallas star to 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting.
Irving, his flamethrowing co-star, only scored nine points on 4-of-11 shooting, failing to make a 3. Jalen Williams had him for the bulk of the game. Cason Wallace played him terrifically in a team-high 19 bench minutes, even blocking one of his fourth-quarter 3s.
Irving has played a controlled offensive and energetic defensive series but is only averaging 15 points on 12.5 shots through four games. Washington is still burning the Thunder, but if it is a side effect of containing Irving and turning Dončić inefficient (39 percent shooting, 31 percent from 3 in the series), that’s a major win for OKC’s defense.
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But, as Chet Holmgren would state postgame, it wouldn’t have mattered if the younger Thunder hadn’t completely outshot the Mavericks from the free-throw line. Dallas shot 12 of 23. OKC shot 23 of 24.
“Damn, I missed the only one?” Holmgren said.
Yes. Holmgren missed a second-quarter free throw. It was the outlier. Dort went 6 of 6. Gilgeous-Alexander went 6 of 6. Williams went 4 of 4. Wiggins made both of his. Holmgren made his five other attempts.
That included two free throws with nine seconds left, coming three minutes after Holmgren buried a corner 3 to put the Thunder up three. That lead stood at two with 10 seconds left. They fouled Dončić. He went to the line and missed one of two, keeping OKC up one. Holmgren was fouled on the inbound. He hit both.
“We might be sitting here talking about different things happening if Luka makes that free throw,” Holmgren said.
Chet Holmgren on the Thunder going 23-of-24 on free throws: “Damn, I missed the only one?”
Were his two late the biggest FTs of his life? Holmgren said yes, but then decides his three FTs to tie game vs Warriors this season were better. pic.twitter.com/Ta0V47YrdX
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 14, 2024
After Holmgren’s two makes, the Thunder executed a foul-up three strategy. Gilgeous-Alexander grabbed Washington. Washington missed one of two. Gilgeous-Alexander made his two. The Thunder went up four and won by four, making 11 more free throws on only one more attempt.
Now the attention shifts to a swing Game 5 up in Oklahoma City with the spotlight again on Daigneault’s starting lineup choice. The Thunder has quickly fallen into 14-6, 11-5 and 16-7 deficits to open the past three games. Their starting lineup is a minus-22 in 31 minutes together this series.
Daigneault has twice switched it up at halftime. He opened the third quarter of Game 2 with Wiggins in the Giddey slot. He opened Game 4 with Joe in the Giddey slot, prioritizing floor spacing. Wallace is another intriguing choice after he hit two huge jumpers and guarded Irving so well on Monday night.
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“I look at everything all the time,” Daigneault said. “I made every decision I could to win Game 4 tonight. I’ll make every decision I can to win Game 5. That’s the playoffs.”
Giddey, for his part, mixed back into Game 4 with various lineup combinations and was part of some Thunder runs, finishing the game a plus-6.
“Josh was a positive tonight,” Daigneault said. “We won the minutes he was on the court tonight and they’re guarding him like that the entire game.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made 10 mid-range jumpers, four non-restricted area 2s and six free throws in Game 4. That’s 34 points without a single make from 3 or at the rim.
Included a jumper from behind the backboard: “That one was ill-advised.” pic.twitter.com/BfrKjuFkxV
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 14, 2024
(Photo of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander taking a jump shot over guard Kyrie Irving: Jerome Miron / USA Today)
Anthony Slater is a senior writer covering the Golden State Warriors for The Athletic. He's covered the NBA for a decade. Previously, he reported on the Oklahoma City Thunder for The Oklahoman. Follow Anthony on Twitter @anthonyVslater
