Thunder Falters Late, Falls to Mavericks on NYE

The Thunder fell to 20-17 on New Year’s Eve in Oklahoma City, losing to the Dallas Mavericks by a final score of 116-113. Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony combined for 84 points on 30/55 shooting, but Mavs rookie Dennis Smith Jr. scored 11 of his 19 points in the final 1:39 to sink the Thunder.

Full Highlights:

Oklahoma City is off until Wednesday and will open up 2018 at the Staples Center against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Numbers

84: The OK3 combined to score 84 points on 54.5 percent shooting in the loss. Russell Westbrook scored 38, Paul George returned from injury to contribute 25, and Carmelo Anthony dropped 21.

51.7: The Mavericks shot 51.7 percent from the floor — including 44 percent (15/34) from downtown. Oklahoma City hit 48 percent of its shots but just 31 percent (10/32) from long distance.

18: The Thunder had just 18 assists, compared to 26 for Dallas.

56-44: The Thunder out-rebounded the Mavericks 56-44 but lost 34-46 in points in the paint.

73.9: OKC hit 17/23 (73.9 percent) of its free throws.

8: The Mavericks came in with the fewest turnovers in the league and OKC forced them into just eight all night. The Thunder coughed it up 11 times.

21 & 10: There were 21 lead changes and 10 ties.

12: Russell Westbrook notched his twelfth triple-double of the year, dropping 38 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists on 17/28 shooting. He had just two turnovers.

Crunch Time

The game went back-and-forth in the final five minutes, as Dennis Smith Jr. came alive to push the Mavericks to victory. He put the Mavs up 111-108 with a three-pointer at the 1:17 mark, pushed it to 113-110 on a driving lay-up with 30 seconds remaining and added some free throws later on.

After the game, he said, “It might have been around the five-minute mark or somewhere around there that I realized it was time for me to get it going.”

Crunch time highlights:

Notes

Last Ditch Effort. Russell Westbrook was 0/4 from downtown on the night — including 0/3 in the final 30 seconds. He had multiple opportunities to tie the game late but couldn’t get anything to drop. If nothing else, OKC seems to have decided on who gets the shots in the late-game situations.

Huestis Starting. Andre Roberson was inactive and Josh Huestis drew the start in his absence. Huestis failed to score in his 19 minutes of action, wrapping up the night at a minus-2.

Melo & PG. Paul George and Carmelo Anthony combined to shoot 8/14 from downtown.

The Bench. Raymond Felton had 12 points and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. Jerami Grant was a team-best plus-7 in 22 minutes. Patrick Patterson was a plus-1 but failed to score in his 13 minutes of action.

The Other Guys. Harrison Barnes thrived in the absence of Andre Roberson, leading the Mavs with 24 points on 10/15 shooting. Smith Jr. contributed 19, Dirk Nowitzki added 18 and JJ Barea posted 12.