Luka Doncic already had a problematic right knee and a sore left ankle when he fell hard on his back while battling his main defender, Lu Dort, for a loose ball.
Doncic not only won the following jump ball, but he also grabbed the loose ball that came after it while the Dallas Mavericks were holding on to a slim lead.
“Everything,” Doncic replied when asked what was hurting, a few minutes after heading carefully to the locker room after Dallas' 105-101 victory over Oklahoma City, securing a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals. “I’m just fighting out there.”
The same could be said for many others.
Kyrie Irving scored 22 points, including a running left-handed shot in the lane in the final minute to help the Mavs maintain their lead.
Doncic also scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and P.J. Washington Jr. scored 27, just two points short of his playoff high from Dallas’ Game 2 victory.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks, but was charged with an offensive foul with Doncic defending on a drive with 29 seconds left and the Thunder trailing by five.
Chet Holmgren, who scored 13 points, also had four blocks as Oklahoma City finished with 10. However, the Thunder were outrebounded 16-5 on the offensive glass by the hard-working Mavs, who had a 16-9 advantage in second-chance points.
Top-seeded Oklahoma City has suffered consecutive losses after starting 5-0 in the playoffs. Game 4 is Monday night in Dallas.
“It’s extremely competitive,” Holmgren said. “Both teams really want it. If you take the result out of it, it’s everything that you want to be going through in a basketball game.”
Irving recovered from just the third single-digit scoring game of his lengthy playoff career with 14 points in the second half, including six straight Dallas points in the fourth quarter that helped the Mavs to their biggest lead of the final period at nine.
The Dallas lead was three after a missed 3-pointer from Gilgeous-Alexander when Irving drove across the lane and hit a runner for a 104-99 lead with 39 seconds to go.
The eight-time All-Star, coming off just eight shots and nine points when Dallas evened the series in Oklahoma City, was 10 of 17 from the field and had seven assists to lead the team for the second game in a row.
“One of my coaches just came up to me and said I waited too long, so obviously I’ve got to be better on my end,” said Irving, who made all four of his fourth-quarter shots. “We’re going against a young team. So we just want to continue to do the things that get us these W’s, and it starts on the defensive end.”
Washington had a 19-point first half for the second consecutive game, once again finishing three points shy of the combined total before the break for Irving and Doncic. Washington was 3 of 6 from 3-point range in the first half and 5 of 12 for the game.
“He’s hooping,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’ve got to turn that water off if we want to win this series, for sure.”
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault chose to intentionally foul Dereck Lively II in the fourth quarter, and the rookie center missed three of the first four free throws. But he made the next four in a row, the last putting Dallas up 100-95 with 3:06 to go.
Lively, who made 51% of his free throws in the regular season and was 11 of 21 in the playoffs, ended up making 8 of 12 free throws and scored 12 points with eight rebounds.
Mavericks center Daniel Gafford, who had a dislocated pinkie finger in Game 2, left in the second quarter after hurting his left shoulder in an accidental crash with Josh Giddey.
Gafford came back for the second half with his shoulder wrapped in a large bandage, but later removed it and continued to start. He only played for six minutes after the break and scored eight points.
Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams was down for about 30 seconds during the third quarter due to a left ankle injury, which led to a 3-pointer by Irving. Williams went to the locker room briefly but returned early in the fourth quarter. He finished with 16 points and eight assists.
Isaiah Joe achieved his best playoff performance with 10 points before halftime, making a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give Oklahoma City a 52-51 lead at halftime. He finished with 13 points.
