The Dallas Mavericks are one victory away from going to the Western Conference Finals after defeating the OKC Thunder 104-92 on the road on Wednesday night.
To win the pivotal Game 5 on the road, Dallas needed their best player to be at his best, and Luka Doncic was at his best.
He had a triple-double with game-highs of 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists.
Dallas got the start they wanted; they led by as many as 15 points in the first half and never trailed after the first quarter.
“Yeah, I thought again, the focus, the energy, we knew it was at stake, you know, as a group,” Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said. “And again, I thought we got off to a good start, and look at one of, you know, our leader was part of that start, and I thought he said the tone and got everybody involved.
Dallas has always responded in the playoffs with a win after every loss; the Mavs are 4-0 following a loss in the playoffs this year. Doncic says each series is all about winning four games, and that’s mentally the Mavs have.
“We know the last game we played against them at home, we let it go,” Doncic said. “You know, it was our mistakes and they hit shots. So our mentality just in the playoffs, it’s first to four, so you got to win four before they do, so you got to go game by game.”
Despite scoring only 12 points, Kyrie Irving continues to play well on the defensive end, and Dallas defended well as a team, which is good news. The Mavericks have a 13-0 record when holding their opponent to under 100 points in the regular season or playoffs this year.
Irving knows OKC is a good team and expects a big effort from the West’s number-one seed in Game 6.
“But you know we’re going against the number one team in the West, and they’re playing like it, man,” Irving said. “So I got to give respect to those young guys, and they’re going to bring it in game six and we’ll be prepared.”
Game 6 in Dallas is not only a must-win game for the Thunder; it’s a must-win game for the Mavericks. The closeout game is usually the hardest to get, and you want to avoid going back to OKC for a Game 7, so Dallas must do everything in their power to end this series on Saturday night.
