OKLAHOMA CITY — Because of the nature of Chet Holmgren’s hip fracture, he spent the better part of November immobile and mostly away from the team. The initial days after his hard fall were spent “in bed,” as Thunder coach Mark Daigneault put it, a lonely place for such a competitor in the heart of the NBA season.
Holmgren still hasn’t advanced out of the crutches stage. They were helping him around on Tuesday night. A lengthy rehab into January and beyond still awaits. But Holmgren’s hip has healed enough that — exactly a month after the injury — he was able to sit in a spacious area behind the Thunder’s bench on Tuesday to witness a dominant 118-104 win over the Mavericks, sending his OKC team to Las Vegas for the semifinals of the NBA Cup.
“He gave the pregame speech,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said.
A long pregame speech from Holmgren?
“Not too long,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Thirty seconds.”
Specific message?
“Win the game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Get some more money. Protect home court. Now he said it in a different way. A little more explicit. But that was his message.”
Chet Holmgren watching this Thunder-Mavericks game from a more spacious area near the OKC tunnel. He fractured his hip on a hard fall exactly a month ago (Nov 10th). Hasn’t been spotted much since. Status update expected in January. pic.twitter.com/5YwDazzzzj
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 11, 2024
This game meant a little more to the Thunder, considering the $500,000 bonus awaiting players if they win the tournament, but more passionately, because of the last time they saw this same opponent in an elimination scenario. The Mavericks beat the Thunder in a tight six-game playoff series in the second round last May, and the disappointment of that result loomed over Tuesday’s matchup.
“Personally, all day,” Gilgeous-Alexander said when asked how much he’d thought about it. “They came out the West last year, which means they were the best in the West. Obviously we know how good the West is. And I respect that. I use the opportunity to see if I got better, to measure myself. That’s when you see who you really are, when you play the top of the top.”
The Thunder can’t truly avenge that playoff loss until the spring. But this was a chance to get a tinge of payback while firming up their early-season place as the class of the conference, even while Holmgren slowly recovers.
The Mavericks entered relatively healthy. P.J. Washington, who lit up the Thunder for a portion of that playoff series, missed the game with an illness. But Luka Dončić is back after a recent wrist injury, and Dallas had won a league-best seven games in a row. Dončić went for 37 and 30 points in the past week.
But the Thunder’s league-best defense bottled him up. Lu Dort shouldered the primary assignment and bothered Dončić from the jump. Daigneault also threw plenty of double teams and extra attention his direction, believing extra space and opportunity from the other Mavericks wouldn’t burn them, especially with newly acquired Isaiah Hartenstein adding some extra rim protection with Holmgren out. He was correct. Naji Marshall had 19 points off the Dallas bench, and the Mavericks were outscored by 14 points in his 29 minutes.
Dončić finished with 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting and turned it over six times, throwing several high-risk passes into the teeth of one of the most disruptive defenses in recent history. The Thunder turned teams over an NBA-high 15.7 times per game a season ago. This season, they’ve upped that to 19.7 turnovers on average through 24 games, more than any team in the last 28 seasons.
They had 14 steals against the Mavericks, including two off the bench from Alex Caruso, who was acquired via trade for Josh Giddey this summer, providing a turbo boost of defensive disruption at a place in the Thunder’s rotation they were previously deficient. Caruso finished eighth in the NBA in steals a season ago.
“That’s one of the benefits of trying to speed teams up with our pressure,” Daigneault said. “We have a luxury roster for that. We can’t just do that. We have to have the guys and we do. We did a great job of that tonight. Great intensity but great discipline. We’re not just running around crazy out there. We sit down and win the closeouts, guard one-on-one and force them into uncomfortable spots.”
On the other end, the Thunder spread the floor and attempted 50 3s, their second-most this season. They hit 20 of them, nullifying the Mavericks’ advantage in the paint and at the free-throw line.
Then they also received the night’s star offensive performance. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 39 points, seven more than Dončić and Kyrie Irving combined. He did it on 15-of-23 shooting, repeatedly beating the Mavericks from floater range, mid-range and out to the 3-point line. Only two of his 15 makes were in the restricted area. Here is his shot plot:
Without Washington or the departed Derrick Jones Jr. — who guarded Gilgeous-Alexander well in the second-round series but left for the Clippers in free agency — the Mavericks didn’t have much of an answer to keep it close.
The Thunder led from the tail end of the first quarter through the buzzer, getting up by as many as 20. They’ll face the winner of Wednesday night’s Warriors and Rockets game in Las Vegas on Saturday.
(Photo of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Dončić: Joshua Gateley / Getty Images)
