The Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Dallas Mavericks in their second preseason in Tulsa, OK, 98-96.
The Thunder and Mavericks both struggled to generate points on offense as the former shot 42.7 percent from the field and the latter shot 40 percent from the field.
A last-second mishap led to the Thunder not getting a chance to tie or win the game.
It was an evenly distributed scoring game for the Thunder as the leading scorer was Josh Giddey’s 13 points, who only played in the first half. All 14 Thunder players scored at least two points.
For the Mavericks, rookie Jaden Hardy led the way with 21 points off the bench. Backup big Christian Wood tallied up a 16-point and 13-rebound double double off the bench.
Let’s take a look at player grades for the Thunder in this preseason two-point loss.
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For the 17 first-half minutes he appeared in, Giddey left his mark in the game. The sophomore guard finished with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting and four steals.
This included a shot-heavy first quarter where the 19-year-old went 5-of-8 from the field.
With the Thunder missing three of their top four players due to injury, this is the type of game Giddey should dominate and look to be more aggressive with his shot.
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Jalen Williams was the second-leading scorer on the team with 10 points. The rookie guard shot 3-of-9 from the field but was able to go 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.
Williams has seen plenty of reps as the backup point guard coming off of the bench. It sounds like the 21-year-old likes that role as he gets more freedom with the ball.
“It’s been fun,” said Williams. “I like playing the point — you get the ball. But yeah it’s been cool… I think it just helped me learn a lot of the sets a lot faster.”
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Aleksej Pokusevski continues to look more like a finished product than raw talent in his second preseason game.
While he scored just eight points and dished out two assists in 18 minutes, the 20-year-old played with better rhythm within the offense and was able to whip out some impressive touch passes in tight windows.
While it’s just preseason, if Pokusevski can carry this type of play into the regular season, he’ll definitely have a role on this team.
“I’m just trying to make the team function better,” said Pokusevski.
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