OKLAHOMA CITY — At this point, it’s a bad case of deja vu. As both teams entered their final regular-season outing destroyed by lengthy injury reports, OKC showed its ugly side again against archrival Dallas in a frustrating loss. The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered a 121115 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. They finished with a 1-3 record against them in the regular season. Even though all four matchups can be thrown away by the time a possible playoff rematch starts, this was the latest example of a disturbing trend where OKC played out of character.

“I thought they did a great job driving the ball on us. That was certainly a huge part of the game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought they did a really good job down the stretch. We tried to put some game pressure on them by taking the ball out of Irving’s hands and they moved out of those double teams really well and hit shots. Give them credit, they outplayed us most of the night.”

Entered as heavy underdogs, the Mavericks showed early on they wouldn’t join a long list of teams blown out by the Thunder. Without Luka Doncic, Dereck Lively II and Klay Thompson, Dallas relied on its two healthy starters to show out. OKC had a 34-33 lead after the first quarter.

Both teams kept it close in the second quarter. The Thunder entered halftime with a slight 62-60 lead over the Mavericks. Despite several main characters out, this OKC-Dallas heavyweight bout lived up to its previous backand-forth affairs. Then, the Thunder slowly lost their composure. The Mavericks had a hot start to the second half. PJ Washington splashed a 3-pointer to retake the lead less than two minutes into the third quarter. As OKC trailed 74-68 with seven minutes left in the frame, a single possession defined how the rest of the game went.

Fighting over a screen, Lu Dort hit Daniel Gafford in the groin. The Mavericks immediately asked for a review and the referees obliged. The play resulted in a flagrant two and an ejection for Dort. Three free throws later, Dallas maintained possession and Kyrie Irving drew a foul to swish in another two free throws.

The Mavericks pushed their six-point lead to 11 points in a single possession. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander turned it over on the next possession and Washington scored on the drive. Suddenly, Dallas was up 81-68 with a little under six minutes left in the third quarter. The crowd was quiet the rest of the way as the Mavericks scored 31 points in the frame to create a 91-83 advantage.

The Thunder couldn’t get a spark to start the final frame. Spencer Dinwiddie swished in a mid-range jumper to give Dallas an 11-point lead with a little over eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. After a timeout, OKC went on a 14-6 run to make it a 105-102 deficit with a little under five minutes remaining in the contest.

The Thunder had several chances on the next few possessions to make it closer but couldn’t cash in on their outside looks. Dinwiddie did. He made a 3-pointer and poster dunk to give Dallas a 110-104 lead with three minutes left. OKC extended the game the rest of the way with intentional free throws but couldn’t make it interesting.

The Thunder shot 48% from the field and went 15-of-37 (40.5%) from 3. They shot 16-of-22 on free throws. They had 26 assists on 42 baskets. Three Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points and seven assists. Williams finished with an efficient 33 points. Jaylin Williams had 12 points and six rebounds. OKC relied on its smallball lineups because of a lack of centers. It didn’t work as as its league-best defense bled points.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks shot 53% from the field and went 14-of-31 (45.2%) from 3. They shot 29-of-36 on free throws. They had 25 assists on 39 baskets. Five Mavericks players scored double-digit points.

Irving had 24 points and four assists. Dinwiddie went off for 28 points on 11-of-14 shooting and three assists. Washington continued to be an OKC killer with 22 points and 19 rebounds. Gafford had 12 points and five rebounds. Olivier-Maxence Prosper scored 14 points.

It’s understandable for Thunder fans to feel annoyed with all three losses to the Mavericks, but not much can be taken away from these matchups for a future possible playoff series. Every game featured important players being out — Doncic and Isaiah Hartenstein missed three games, Gilgeous-Alexander missed one and Chet Holmgren missed all four.

Instead, these games should stay in a vacuum. Glass half-empty, the Mavericks forced the Thunder to be uncomfortable regardless of the personnel. That’s a disturbing trend. Glass half-full, it’s easy to see Holmgren and Hartenstein fix most of those problems. Either way, what should theoretically happen on paper provides little comfort to OKC for what actually happened on the court. This was a bad loss for it as both sides entered depleted.

“I thought they were just the better team. They were the aggressor for much of the game,” Daigneault said. “Especially in the second half. We had some good thrust in the first half and had control of the game at different times, but I thought they outplayed us tonight.”

After a career-best performance, Gilgeous-Alexander was due for some regression less than a day later. But the extent he showed in the middle quarters against the Mavericks was surprising.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 31 points on 12-of-25 shooting and seven assists. He shot 1-of-3 from 3 and went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Jalen Williams finished with 33 points on 11-of 19 shooting, seven assists and four rebounds. He shot 4-of-8 from 3 and went 7-of-10 at the freethrow line. A25-point second half almost brought OKC back. With Gilgeous-Alexander blanketed out, Williams stepped up to be its best scorer. The 23-year-old found a rhythm and nailed a tough mid-range jumper after a tough mid-range jumper. He also got to the free-throw line consistently — a season-long problem for him.

Down several players, the Thunder needed Caruso to step up and he did. He was part of OKC’s closing lineup and kept it within arm’s reach on the scoreboard.

AlexCaruso finished with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting, five assists, three rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes off the bench. He shot 2-of-4 from 3.

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