The Oklahoma City Thunder now find themselves behind the 8-ball in their series with the Dallas Mavericks, down 2-1 after the 105-101 loss on Saturday. Oklahoma City's main stars had solid performances, but its supporting cast left a lot to be desired.
Two players in particular who may want to forget their outings are Lu Dort and Jaylin Williams. Dort scored 8 points on 3-of-9 shooting with two rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block across 40 minutes. Williams, on the other hand, scored two points on 0-for-2 shooting with four rebounds, one assist, and one steal across 13 minutes off the bench.
Both players were disappointing in different ways. Dort made a minimal impact offensively despite playing significant minutes, and Williams couldn't convert a field goal when his team needed it in a close game. Will they be able to rebound from these lackluster performances?
Dort must make the most of his chances for the Thunder to win the series
Oklahoma City is a better team when Dort scores in double-digits. In these playoffs so far, the Thunder are 3-0 when he scores 10 or more, and they're 2-2 when he doesn't.
The problem is that the Arizona State alum hasn't been able to eclipse the 10-point mark in this entire series. All of his double-digit contests came against the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round. There's no excuse to slump now, as the Mavericks are weaker than the Pelicans defensively. Dallas finished 18th in the regular season with a 114.9 defensive rating, while New Orleans finished sixth with a 111.9 mark.
Dort averaged 10.9 points on 43.8% shooting across 79 games played over the regular season. The Thunder enjoyed a 57-25 campaign, good enough for first place in a competitive Western Conference. If the 25-year-old had just hit one or two more buckets to match that season average in this contest, it could've changed the outcome.
Dort is now averaging 7.7 points on 30.8% shooting across 33 minutes per game this series. If he can't find a way to increase those numbers in the coming days, the Thunder could find themselves going to Cancun earlier than expected.
Jaylin Williams needs to make a bigger impact for the Thunder
While Williams plays significantly fewer minutes than Dort, he still had enough time to make more of an impact than he did. He played just as much as starting guard Josh Giddey, but Giddey eclipsed him in points and plus/minus. Giddey scored nine points on 4-of-8 shooting, with a -1 plus/minus, while Williams had a -5 plus/minus.
While Williams only averaged 4 points on 41.7% shooting in the regular season, he needs to at least match that production consistently to help supplement the Thunder's bench scoring. Not converting any field goals in a crucial playoff game isn't going to cut it.
Meanwhile, an unheralded player who went off for the Mavericks is P.J. Washington. The 25-year-old only averaged 12.9 points per game in the regular season, but he led the squad with a 27-spot on Saturday. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sounded off on Washington postgame, via Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“He’s hooping,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We gotta turn that water off if we want to win this series, for sure.”
For the Thunder to come back in this series, they need an unexpected player to contribute similarly. If that doesn't happen, the Mavericks will move on to the Conference Finals.
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