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What area separated Mavericks from Thunder? OKC general manager Sam Presti explains
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- What area separated Mavericks from Thunder? OKC general manager Sam Presti explains
Almost nothing surprised Sam Presti about the Thunder's playoff showing . Almost.
He hardly batted an eye at Oklahoma City being a less-than-ideal rebounding team, something he'd seen in spurts. He didn't twitch when the Thunder defense replicated its regular season.
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The only thing that truly caught him off guard was the Thunder offense — where inexperience and unfamiliarity met and grew prominent, especially in the Western Conference semifinals, for a team that held a top-five offense for most of the year.
Jalen Williams , a promising sophomore and dependable creator, made forgettable decisions. Got lost in space he previously loved. Chet Holmgren , whose processing felt more like Google than a Blackberry for much of his rookie season, struggled to navigate the changes at times.
Presti saw one prevailing difference: Dallas was a better passing team in their second-round series.
More: Tier rankings for the OKC Thunder's roster: Untouchables, trade pieces and more
Thunder general manager Sam Presti was transparent in the Friday morning press release announcing the trade.
"That's not because we weren't trying to pass," Presti explained during his exit interview on May 28. "But they have a little more experience against that level of resistance defensively. It made it harder for us to get out to their players."
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The disparity wasn't so gaudy by the numbers. The Mavericks , which were second among second round teams in assists, averaged 24.7. The Thunder averaged 23.3.
What Presti likely alluded to — and what the world saw — was the disparity in how it viewed. He saw Luka Doncic . A tall task for anyone, an impossible offensive initiator regardless of injury or illness.
Doncic is a 1-of-1 engine, one that OKC forced off the ball as much as anyone this postseason and swallowed the results. The skip passes, the improbable lobs, the windows that he toyed with. All were the product of the Thunder betting against Doncic's teammates to win a series, and for Doncic to not pinpoint every read. But he did.
The Mavs star made Derrick Jones Jr. and PJ Washington look like deities. What with his omniscient vision, his no-look lobs into space only his frontcourt could reach toward. Dallas' wings settled into comfortable catch-and-shoot opportunities, Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford learned the measurements of the backboard.
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Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks hugs Luguentz Dort #5 of the Oklahoma City Thunder after Game Six of the Western Conference Second Round Playoffs at American Airlines Center on May 18, 2024 in Dallas, Texas.
Dealing with the wrath of Doncic and superstar sidekick Kyrie Irving 's isolations in rare breakdowns was a handful, and what OKC dealt with perhaps less than anyone. It was Doncic's reads and Dallas' execution in those situations that grew impossible.
OKC's offense thrived on driving and kicking, especially with the advantages two young ballhandlers like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams provided. But when those windows were stripped, when the screens no longer earned space, when the handles were forced to be tighter, when OKC couldn't manipulate the halfcourt the way it always had — it met struggle.
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"Regular season, I think you can win with the dribble," Presti said. "Postseason, I think you win with the pass. Toward the end of the game, your best players got to make the plays off the dribble, which we all know. I think our intentions were good. We just hadn't seen that yet. I think we'll get better with it."
There are certainly layers and nuances beyond the generalization. Variables that need to be considered based on matchup. The Thunder doesn't have a passer quite like Doncic, or the exact level of lob targets. Its top-five offense thrived without those things until its second-round demise. Without variance, it had a chance to even survive once more without them.
But Williams learned about himself. Gilgeous-Alexander was catapulted into a space where he had to equally trust teammates and make uncomfortable reads. It was thrust into that position most notably by Dallas — perhaps the only lob that'll truly stick with Presti.
More: What's next for the OKC Thunder? Player report cards, key offseason dates
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NBA Finals: Celtics vs. Mavericks
Game 1:7:30 p.m. Thursday at TD Garden in Boston (ABC)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder GM Sam Presti praises Mavericks' passing in NBA playoffs
