The Oklahoma City Thunder outscored the Dallas Mavericks by 9 in the second quarter and by 12 in the fourth quarter and won Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series, 117-95 on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City.
The first half featured eight ties and 11 lead changes, before the Thunder used a late second quarter surge to build a 12-point lead and led 62-53 at halftime.
They never trailed again and in the fourth quarter built their lead to 25 on the way to their fifth straight playoff win, their first five-game playoff winning streak since 2012.
The Thunder were led by 29 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and added 9 rebounds and 9 assists to lead OKC in both those categories as well.
Chet Holmgren had 19 points, including three highlight dunks, and grabbed 7 rebounds.
Jalen Williams scored 18 points, including four buckets in a two minute stretch in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Aaron Wiggins had 16 points and made three 3-pointers, and Jaylin Williams added 11 points and 9 rebounds.
The Thunder shot better from three-point range than overall from the field, making 16 three-pointers for 46 percent and shooting 45 percent overall from the field.
The Thunder forced 16 Mavericks turnovers, held Dallas to just 39 percent shooting from the field, and outrebounded the Mavs 52-39.
The Thunder are 11-2 in Game 1 at home.
Game 2 is Thursday night in OKC at 8:30 pm.
