Three Thoughts - Thunder Don't Go Quietly
Oklahoma City needed Game 4 badly and that young team out-executed Dallas in the fourth quarter.
The essence of a best-of-7 Series between two teams that are both very good is easy to see, but also easy to forget. There will be times over the two weeks when you believe this has become easy. The trouble with that belief, of course, is that you are being deceived. It is seldom easy. Just when you think you have figured your opponent out, deception arrives in the form of a major setback.
That setback arrived Monday night for the Dallas Mavericks.
They lost Game 4 on their home court in a bizarre and intense night of basketball, where it appeared they were in control for most of the game. However, the Thunder hung around and stayed connected, keeping their chances alive. Thinking you are the better team for most of the night is not how these games are decided. If you don’t put your opponent away when you have the chance, there is a high chance you will regret it in the playoffs – almost regardless of the sport we are talking about.
So, Game 4 – like this entire series – felt like you had the advantage when you really didn’t. And now, after losing Game 4 at home, 100-96, Dallas faces a best-of-3 series against this same Thunder team they cannot seem to shake; with two of the next three games back on the road.
These are My Three Thoughts:
– Shai Gilgeous-Alexander decided to help everyone understand why he was a legitimate MVP Candidate on Monday. Where better to do it than in the arena of a rival that insists their guy is much better?
You have to admire the nerve, if nothing else. He simply decided to switch to full destroyer mode and take control of the game in a must-win situation for his team. Now, we often use the term 'must-win', but I don’t think that young Thunder team would have much belief left if they had lost three consecutive games in this series. They simply needed to win one on Monday, and they needed their MVP to lead them because most of his supporting cast has been performing below par for much of this series.
Well, that was pretty well done by everyone from OKC, but specifically this guy, SGA. He was unguardable and put on a show that was making a strong case to all of Dallas about the MVP credentials of their point guard: 'Look, you might prefer your guy, but don’t act like I don’t have the goods too.'"