Josh Giddey played with the second unit in a surprise Oklahoma City experiment on Thursday as the Dallas Mavericks outlasted the Thunder 104-92 in Game 5.
With it, Dallas took a 3-2 series lead and now have a chance to book their spot in the Western Conference Finals with a win at home against the Thunder on Sunday.
Luka Doncic was masterful for the Mavs with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 30 points, six rebounds and seven assists for Oklahoma City.
However, plenty of early production from Derrick Jones Jr. and some clutch shots from P.J. Washington, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds despite running into early foul trouble, proved crucial for Dallas.
Oklahoma City, meanwhile, only got 12 points from Jalen Williams while the team as a whole struggled from deep in particular, shooting 25.6 per cent from downtown.
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OKC Thunder evens up series vs Mavericks | 01:13
Giddey, who had 11 points, three rebounds and two steals in the loss to Dallas, had started in all 220 games of his career before Thursday.
But ahead of a pivotal Game 5 against Dallas, coach Mark Daigneault finally pulled the trigger, starting Isaiah Joe in place of the third-year guard.
Daigneault had resisted the urge to tinker with his starting line-up all series, instead limiting Giddey’s minutes as a way of addressing his shortcomings in this particular match-up.
The problem, however, is that all too often this series the Thunder have struggled for an offensive rhythm early and fallen behind as a result.
Oklahoma City was able to overcome a 22-8 deficit in Game 4 but it isn’t something the Thunder want to have to be doing every night.
“It gave us a chance to get back into some normal attacks on offence… and generate some flow to start the game,” Daigneault later said in his post-game press conference.
“It also gives Josh second unit minutes where he can playmake a little bit when Jalen, Chet, Shai are starting to stagger out of the line-up. I actually thought it could benefit both units.”
Joe’s inclusion had the desired effect early in Thursday’s game as the Thunder jumped out to an 8-2 lead, with OKC’s ace shooting making his first 3-pointer after Dallas helped off him. Meanwhile, Joe was also bringing plenty of energy as he hustled for a pair of rebounds on both ends.
Doncic though sparked a 12-2 Mavs run in response as Jones Jr. made a pair of early 3-pointers to give Dallas a 14-13 lead when Daigneault called the first timeout of the game.
Elsewhere, Giddey checked into the game for the first time with just over four minutes left in the opening quarter, with Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Joe and Jaylin Williams still on the court at that point.
Giddey made an instant impact with an early bucket and rebound but then had the ball slapped away from him by Doncic, sparking a fastbreak alley oop dunk for Jones Jr.
That was more of an instinctive play from Doncic than careless one from Giddey, who later found Williams for a wide-open 3-pointer to answer the Jones Jr. dunk.
Dallas had a 24-22 lead after the first quarter
Giddet, meanwhile, started the second alongside Dort, Williams, Holmgren and Cason Wallace and made an early 3-pointer from the left corner.
His second attempt soon after missed but what would have pleased coach Daigneault was the fact Giddey didn’t hesitate for a second, looking more confident in his new role.
There was little Giddey, or the Thunder for that matter, could do though as Doncic dazzled with two early assists — including a pinpoint full-court pass on a Dereck Lively II slam — to put the Mavericks ahead 35-27.
Giddey checked out after a solid eight minutes where he had five points, three rebounds and an assist.
The Mavs pushed their lead out to as much as 40-27 and eventually went into halftime leading 54-44 after a huge offensive rebound and putback by Josh Green.
For the Thunder, it capped off a poor shooting half which saw OKC go 39.5 per cent from the field and 30 per cent from downtown, with Gilgeous-Alexander (10 points) their top scorer.
It was much of the same early in the third for the Thunder, who were making the extra pass and creating open looks but just couldn’t get the shots to fall consistently.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, were able to extend their lead to 65-51 before Giddey was brought back into the game with five minutes left in the quarter and made a quick bucket.
He then missed a 3-point attempt as Gilgeous-Alexander attracted three defenders, with fellow Australian Green draining one from deep on the other end to put Dallas up 71-56.
It was Green’s only successful 3-point attempt from five, although his energy on defence helped make up for some of the missed shots.
Oklahoma City though just wasn’t able to get into its usual offensive rhythm while the opposite was true for Doncic, who scored Dallas’ first eight points of the fourth quarter and assisted on the other two as the Mavericks opened up a commanding 89-71 lead.
The Thunder were able to force four straight stops and converted those Dallas turnovers and missed shots into points, going on a 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 89-79 with 6:30 left.
But it never got much closer than that, with Dallas holding on for a comfortable win.
Having only seen limited playing time throughout the series, Australian Dante Exum fell out of the rotation in Game 5 for the Mavericks.