The magnitude of tonight’s game between the Mavericks and Thunder could not be any bigger. 82% of teams that win Game 5 with the series tied at 2-2 go on to advance to the next round, so I’m expecting both teams to be up for this one. Dallas goes into it as a 4.5 point underdog, just like they were in the first two road games of this series. If you’re a Mavs fan, you are definitely worried going into tonight’s game. Particularly because of the way your offense has performed in this series. Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic weren’t assertive enough in Game 4, combining to score a series low 27 points between them. It's hard to win games when your two best players don’t show up, I’m expecting a bounce back performance on Wednesday night.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came under a lot of criticism after his poor performance in Game 3, but he made amends with 34 points in Monday’s game, leading the Thunder to a victory. This is uncharted territory for this young OKC team, so I am curious to see how they respond with all the pressure on them in Game 5. They’ve had the Mavs number when playing at the Paycom Center, winning 4 of the last 5 meetings. OKC was one of the strongest home teams in the NBA this year, they’ve won 36 of 45 games there and enter Wednesday’s game on a run of 8 wins in 9 games. One thing that should worry them ahead of tonight’s game is their three-point shooting. After opening the series with 16 threes made, they’ve averaged just 9 per game in the last 3 outings.
