Despite a spirited comeback effort in the fourth quarter, the Dallas Mavericks fell short to the incumbent champion Oklahoma City Thunder by a score of 101-94. While there were notable injuries on both sidelines, the Mavericks played a great defensive contest, but the 46-36 rebounding disparity between the Thunder and Dallas was too much to handle considering the Mavericks shot an abysmal 37.9 percent from the field.
Part of Dallas’ problem on both sides of the ball was once again their guard play, especially with Brandon Williams missing a second game in a row due to personal reasons, as D’Angelo Russell played a very double-edged game throughout 30 minutes off the bench.