The Dallas Mavericks played their first back-to-back of the season as the OKC Thunder came to the American Airlines Center on Monday night. Dallas has dominated this series as of late, even last year, before the Thunder went on to win the NBA Finals. Dallas always found a way to get the upper hand against them, which the Thunder exploited in this game.
To say this was an ugly offensive game for the Mavericks would be an understatement. This was at least a close game at halftime, as the Mavericks’ defense was able to limit Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of OKC’s offense to 48 points at halftime. However, that all changed in the third quarter, when the Thunder exploded for 39 points and outscored the Mavs by 12 in that frame.
That third quarter changed the entire game, as Dallas’ offense had no answer for OKC’s defense, continuing the trend of inconsistent offense. And it wasn’t even turnovers killing the Mavs, which is typical against OKC. They just couldn’t make shots.
Until midway through the fourth quarter, that is. A 15-0 run that started with about 7:35 remaining in the fourth quarter and featured multiple Max Christie threes brought the Mavs back within four in the final four minutes. After a few traded baskets, a floater from D’Angelo Russell brought them back within one point. Isaiah Hartenstein pushed the lead back to three, and Dallas’ response was a quick three from Russell, who struggled to score all game.
OKC would go on to win, 101-94, and improve to 4-0, while the Mavericks fall to 1-3, which is disappointing considering all of these games have been at home for them.
Here are three overreactions from this game.
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Oct 26, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Jaden Hardy (1) warms up before the game against the Toronto Raptors at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
This was a rough night for the Mavericks’ bench. A night after scoring 24 points, D’Angelo Russell followed that up by scoring just 9 points on 3/14 shooting, but he did have 10 assists. Naji Marshall was fine, but Jaden Hardy was the team’s best bench threat, which is… not great.
Hardy was fine in this game, giving the Mavs some desperately needed offense, and finished with 11 points. But no team serious about contending is relying on Jaden Hardy as their best bench threat.
Oct 26, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Max Christie (00) talks with forward Cooper Flagg (32) during the second half against the Toronto Raptors at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Cooper Flagg had been making continual progress through the first three games, but that went out the window in this game. OKC’s physicality was a little too much for Flagg in this game, and he wasn’t even in the lineup down the stretch as the Mavs made their rally before being placed back in for a portion of the final 1:25.
Flagge ended up with just 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, shooting 1/9 from the floor. He’ll be better, was dealing with some sort of left shoulder injury (he was seen with a wrap on it in the third quarter), and he will be better moving forward, but this was a bad showing.
Oct 27, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) warms up before the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came into the game averaging nearly 15 free-throw attempts per game, but he didn’t shoot his first free throws until the final minute of the game. And yet he still finished with 23 points. Not having the bigs of Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II probably helped with not fouling, but it also became a little harder to keep him from scoring at the rim.
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