With Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving leading the charge, it was the timely contributions of PJ Washington, Dereck Lively II, and Derrick Jones Jr. that propelled the Dallas Mavericks to a 117-116 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals. This victory marks the second time in three years that the Mavericks have advanced to the Western Conference finals.
The Dallas Mavericks' remarkable playoff run continued on Friday night with a thrilling 117-116 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, sending the Mavericks to the conference finals for the second time in three years.
While Luka Dončić posted his third consecutive triple-double and fellow star Kyrie Irving had his moments, it was three players added by general manager Nico Harrison through a variety of means — and for a variety of reasons — who made the difference.
PJ Washington, acquired in a trade deadline deal, Dereck Lively II, the Mavs' 2023 first-round draft pick, and Derrick Jones, Jr., a free-agent signing, all made one crucial play after another in the final minutes to secure the comeback from a 17-point third-quarter deficit.
"PJ and DJones, those are our dogs," said Dončić. "They never complain, just play hard. Those are the kind of people you need on your team. And we don't win the series without DLive. For a rookie, not being scared, it's insane the way he played."
Dončić and Irving are known for being clutch, but this time it was their supporting cast coming through for them. Lively II collected eight of his 12 points and six of his 15 rebounds down the stretch, repeatedly out-jumping and scoring over Holmgren, who finished with 21 points but only three rebounds in 34 minutes.
Washington, who came into the game with a postseason free-throw shooting percentage of 52.4 (11 for 21), stepped to the line with the Mavs trailing by one and 2.5 seconds left. To make matters worse, he'd missed his previous free throw about five minutes earlier.
Unfazed by the pressure of the moment — heightened by having to wait through a challenge to the foul call by Thunder coach Mark Daigenault — Washington not only sank the first two free throws for the lead but then purposely missed the last one in the most ideal way, bouncing it softly off the back rim. That resulted in a slower-than-usual ricochet and, with OKC out of timeouts, the best they could do was a Jalen Williams' three-quarter heave that sailed out of bounds wide left of the backboard.
"It won't go as the biggest play, but to miss the free throw in the proper way, sometimes we'll say miss the free throw and you hit the backboard and they get to set up," said Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. "We didn't want them to set up."
Earlier, Jones bailed out Irving in similar fashion. Irving's corner 3 attempt was blocked by Jalen Williams, but Jones Jr. grabbed the ball and arced a turnaround fadeaway jumper over a leaping 7-foot Holmgren. The ball found nothing but net as the shot clock expired for a 115-110 lead with 71 seconds left.
