Here are five thoughts from the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 100-96 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday in Game 4 of the teams’ Western Conference semifinal playoff series.Mavs blow lead Leading 54-43 at halftime, the Mavericks scored only 15 third-quarter points and then lost an 82-75 lead in the final six minutes of regulation.The Thunder scored 17 of the next 23 points to take a 92-88 lead and eventually pushed the advantage to 96-91 with 1:07 left before Dallas frantically tried to rally.Derrick Jones Jr.’s dunk with 33 seconds left brought Dallas within 96-94, but with 10.1 seconds left and facing two free-throws with a chance to tie the game, Luka Doncic missed the first free throw and made the second.Contributing to Dallas’ second-half meltdown was the fact that the Mavericks shot 12-of-23 on free-throws for the game, including 6-of-11 in the fourth quarter.Bottom line A victory at home would have given Dallas a 3-1 series lead and dumped the Thunder into a hole from which NBA teams seldom recover: Only 13 times in 285 attempts in NBA history.Instead it’s 2-2 and Oklahoma City has regained homecourt advantage. Game 5 is Wednesday in Oklahoma City, and traditionally that’s a pivotal matchup. In NBA history, when series are tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner has gone on to win 190 series and lost only 42 times, meaning the Game 5 winner has gone on to win 81.9% of the time.Game 4 jinx? Monday’s loss continues a long run of Dallas’ inability to seize control of a series at home when given the opportunity.In the first round, the Mavericks led the Clippers 2-1, but lost Game 4 at home and had to re-gain homecourt advantage by winning Game 5 in Los Angeles.During the 2021 playoffs, the Mavericks won the first two games of their first-round series in Los Angeles against the Clippers, but lost Games 3 and 4 at home and eventually the series. Dallas has not had a 3-1 lead in any series since the 2011 Western Conference finals – against Oklahoma City – the year that the Mavericks went on to win their only NBA title.Washington leads the way — again After watching P.J. Washington explode for 29 points in Game 2 and 27 points in Game 3, Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander blurted: “We have to turn his water off.”Fortunately for the Mavericks, the Washington spigot remained open in Game ...
