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Pool play for the NBA Emirates Cup is complete, and the quarterfinals are now upon us. The defending NBA Cup Champion Los Angeles Lakers and NBA Champion Boston Celtics were eliminated in the group stage.
Now, out west, the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder host the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday at 9:30 PM on TNT. Both teams went 3-1 in pool play. The Thunder won West Group B, while the Mavericks finished second to the Golden State Warriors in West Group C. Dallas won the West’s wild card slot thanks to point differential.
Let’s break down each team’s group play recap while previewing this matchup and making a Mavericks @ Thunder NBA Emirates Cup pick.
Dallas got off to a tough start in Cup play, losing a tight 120-117 contest at Golden State. The Mavericks responded with a 132-91 blowout over the New Orleans Pelicans and a close 123-120 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
The team put itself in contention for the quarterfinals with a furious comeback in a 121-116 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Dallas trailed by 15 entering the fourth quarter and by eight with just over three minutes to play before going on an 18-5 run to earn the win. Five-time All-NBA first-team selection Luca Dončić led the Mavericks with 37 points and 12 rebounds, while Spencer Dinwiddie (16 points) and P.J. Washington Jr. (18 points) hit clutch 3-pointers down the stretch as the team overcame a season-high 25 turnovers. Derrick Lively II had 17 points and 11 rebounds in the win as well.
Dallas earned the West’s wild card slot for the quarterfinals with a +46 differential, easily outpacing the Phoenix Suns (+30). With the victory, Dallas has now won five straight and 9-of-10 to shoot up to third place in the Western Conference. Dončić averaged over 31 points in his three games in pool play. Dallas got 26 points from Naji Marshall and 22 points and 13 rebounds from Washington Jr in the win over the Nuggets without Dončić. Luka has missed several games this season, but he leads the defending Western Conference champs with 29.1 points and 7.8 assists a game.
The Thunder are the top seed in the West for both this cup competition and the regular season standings. The Thunder won three group-play games by an average of 17 points, highlighted by a 133-106 destruction of the Utah Jazz to clinch West Group B.
Jalen Williams led OKC with 28 points in the win, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 28 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Reserves Isaiah (19) and Aaron Wiggins (16) combined for 35 points, while Cason Wallace added 12 points in the group-clinching win. The Thunder opened cup play with an easy 99-83 victory over the Phoenix Suns before faltering at the San Antonio Spurs in a 110-104 defeat. Oklahoma City responded with a 10-1-93 victory over the defending cup champion Lakers and the blowout of the Jazz to claim West Group B.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been named All-NBA first-team each of the past two seasons and was just named the Western Conference player of the month for November, led the team with just over 30 points a game in their four cup contests. The team has also received a massive jolt with the return of Isaiah Hartenstein, the 7-foot center who signed from the New York Knicks in the offseason. Hartenstein has averaged 13.3 points and 12.3 rebounds since returning from a fractured hand, including 11 points and 18 rebounds in the win over the Lakers.
Dallas and Oklahoma City have faced each other once already this season, with the Mavericks claiming a 121-119 victory on the road without Dončić last month. Washington Jr. led the way with 27 points and 17 rebounds, while Kyrie Irving added 23 points and 6 assists. Marshall, Dinwiddie, Daniel Gifford and Jaden Hardy scored in double figures and combined for 47 points off the bench for Dallas.
Williams added 27 points and five assists, and Lu Dort contributed 18 points for the Thunder in the loss. Gllgeous-Alexander had a game-high 36 points to go with eight assists for Oklahoma City. He’s been consistent all season for OKC, and we don’t expect that to change in a cup quarterfinal contest, so we’ll take SGA to score 30 or more points again against the Mavericks.
Brian has been writing about sports professionally for 25 years, specializing in the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, men's college basketball and football, and soccer. He covered high school, collegiate and professional sports in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area for two decades. His written work has appeared in several print and online publications since 1999.