Doncic's triple-double puts Mavs 1 win from WCF

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OKLAHOMA CITY -- Luka Doncic scored 31 points in a triple-double, and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-92 on Wednesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Doncic, the league's leading scorer in the regular season, had struggled in the series against Oklahoma City. Playing through a sprained right knee and a sore left ankle, he had averaged just 22 points on 39% shooting through the first four games. He made 12 of 22 field goals in Game 5 and had 11 assists and 10 rebounds for his sixth career playoff triple-double.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored a playoff career-high 19 points, and P.J. Washington Jr. added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Dallas, which shot 52.6% from the floor. The No. 5-seeded Mavericks can advance to the Western Conference finals with a win Saturday at home.

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"The whole team stepped up," Doncic said. "I couldn't do it without my teammates. Everybody that came on the floor gave 100% effort. We play as a team, we win as a team, we lose as a team. This team is special, man. We've only been together for five months, and I've been having a lot of fun with this team."

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points for the top-seeded Thunder, but no other Oklahoma City player scored more than 13 points.

The Mavericks won Game 5 on the road, just like they did in the first round against the LA Clippers. Dallas held Oklahoma City to 42.5% shooting.

Oklahoma City tried to jump-start its struggling offense by replacing Josh Giddey with Isaiah Joe in the starting lineup. Giddey did not start for the first time in 229 combined regular-season and postseason games.

"At the end of the day, I'm making a lot of different decisions," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "They're not all gonna be right or wrong. I'm doing the best I can. I thought it was the appropriate time to take a look at that. Mainly to try to get us off to more of a rhythmic start offensively. So get Josh in more of a playmaking role where he can play to his identity in the second unit."

Dallas led by 15 in the second quarter and took a 54-44 edge into halftime. Jones scored 15 points before the break.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 14 points in the third quarter, but Dallas still led 79-67.

Dallas pushed its lead out to 18 points early in the fourth quarter before the Thunder surged. A 3-pointer by Gilgeous-Alexander cut the deficit to 89-79 with just under seven minutes remaining and forced Dallas to call a timeout. The Thunder never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Doncic's triple-double puts Mavs 1 win from WCF

Doncic's triple-double puts Mavs 1 win from WCF

Doncic's triple-double puts Mavs 1 win from WCF

Doncic's triple-double puts Mavs 1 win from WCF

Doncic's triple-double puts Mavs 1 win from WCF