[R1zzo23]

Doncic, Brunson Too Much for Thunder to Handle





Luka Doncic (33 pts, 7 reb, 19 ast) was a man on a mission from the jump in this game as he took it right to the Thunder from the opening tip. Playing up on him to keep him from getting any easy look from deep, Doncic blew past the defender and sent one in over Mikal Bridges (10 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk) and Chet Holmgren (27 pts, 11 reb, 1 stl). From that moment on, the Thunder knew they were in for a fight.



Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (33 pts, 7 ast) was not going to back down from the challenge it took it to Doncic and the Dallas defense as well to the tune of 15-19 shooting including this and-one finish on the Maverick superstar.



After falling behind early in the 2nd quarter and with SGA and Holmgren on the bench, Tre Mann (14 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast) did his best to keep his team afloat by staying aggressive on offense and hitting some clutch buckets to keep the Thunder in the game.



Oklahoma City tried to take advantage of any non-Luka minutes on the floor, but once he checked back in he was back in his bag. After losing R.J. Hampton (7 pts, 1 ast) on a drive down the right side of the lane, Doncic shoulders him away, steps back and drains a triple from the corner. Any shot Luka attempted, whether there were hands in his face or not, it seemed like he was completely unphased and in the gym all alone.



After a quiet first half, Chet Holmgren went on a personal 11-0 run in the 3rd quarter that included a triple, a pull-up jumper off the pick-and-roll as the ball handler as well as this thunderous dunk over Christian Wood (7 pts, 7 reb, 1 stl) and Davis Bertans (5 pts, 3 reb). Holmgren drove baseline, executed a fundamental hop step and flushed over the two Maverick big men.



Stretch bigs will do wonders when you’re playing with a heliocentric superstar like Luka Doncic and Christian Wood plays well in that role. While he was rather quiet offensively, he was able to keep the Thunder defense honest by pulling Holmgren away from the paint. On this switch, the defensive rotation made a mistake and Luka found Wood for the wide open three.



Playing next to Wood is rookie sensation Nikola Jovic (20 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast, 4 stl) that is probably a better shooter than the veteran big he starts with. Jovic abused the Thunder by hitting on wide open shots all night long. His job is to be ready to shoot and he did just that, banging nine of his 11 shots on the night for a 20-point explosion.