2 thoughts before the Dallas Mavericks take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3

The Dallas Mavericks evened the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday night, and now the matchup shifts to the Lone Star State. The Mavericks will face off against the Thunder Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday afternoon. Day games can be a little weird, so hopefully the Mavericks come out focused and ready to play.

The Mavericks looked like they were finding their rhythm again Thursday, with Luka Doncic resembling the player who scorched the league all season. Add in the fact that P.J. Washington had the game of his life, and well, it’s no wonder they beat the Thunder on the road. If they play the same way at home in Dallas, there’s a good chance they’ll take a 2-1 series lead.

Here are a couple thoughts to ponder before the game starts:

Will the hot shooting continue?

The odd thing about the Mavericks’ hot finish to the season is that they stopped shooting well from deep. They only shot 36 percent as a team from behind the arc after the All-Star break. Instead, they wore teams down with defense and killed them in the paint and from the midrange.

Thursday night, that changed. They shot the lights out against the Thunder, hitting almost 49 percent of their 37 3-point attempts. It put pressure on Oklahoma City early, and the Thunder never recovered. They couldn’t keep up with the Mavericks’ shooting. Dallas doesn’t necessarily have to shoot that well from three again, but even hitting that close will put the Thunder on their heels.

Did Kyrie Irving have a bad game, or have the Thunder figured out how to contain him?

Irving was held to just nine points in Game 2, which is just completely out of character for him. Even when he struggles, Irving manages to manufacture points and get into the low twenties. But Irving was oddly passive, only taking eight shots total, and only two 3-point attempts. Did the Thunder figure out some way to turn him into just a distributor? Irving had 11 assists, which is great, but the Mavericks need his scoring as well. Maybe this was just a case of Irving playing within the flow of the game, and the shots just weren’t there. But if Game 3 passes with Irving taking less than 10 shots, the Mavericks might be in trouble.