The Dallas Mavericks nearly snatched defeat away from victory on Sunday night, but came away with a 121-119 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder to move back to .500 at 7-7. They were able to do it without Luka Doncic by dominating OKC on the glass 61-39, while the Thunder were missing Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams.

Beating the Thunder without Luka Doncic on the Mavs’ side will certainly start some conversations, but their ability to dominate the glass and make threes were the main reasons why Dallas won this game. I’m not saying Doncic couldn’t have contributed to that, but let’s focus on what happened on the field.

Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s big win.

READ MORE: PJ Washington Leads Luka-Less Mavericks Over Thunder, 121-119

While Naji Marshall has performed admirably over the last few games, PJ Washington is a real difference maker who can dominate the game defensively. If he performs as well on offense as he did on Sunday (27 points), he will become one of the most important role players in the NBA. His career-high 17 rebounds were all huge, limiting the Thunder to one-shot possessions. He also just seems to enjoy playing against OKC, given some of his recent performances against them.

Klay Thompson shot just 1/11 from the floor and 1/8 from three on Sunday night, dropping his season three-point percentage to 35.6%, and he has made just one three-pointer in four of his last six games. Outside of his two-game heater against the Warriors and Jazz, he is 4/24 from deep against the Thunder, Spurs, Nuggets and Suns over the past two weeks. Since two of those were close losses, you might wonder what caused his shooting slump.

The Mavericks led by ten with 2:14 to go and by eight with 1:16 to go. And somehow, OKC ultimately had a chance to win the game. The end of this game really didn’t have to be as stressful as it was, and it’s something the Mavs need to improve on. Between bad turnovers, poor defense and questionable decision-making, this was the only time in the game where it was clear the Mavs needed Luka Doncic. They should have been able to put this game away with ease, but they made it much more difficult than it needed to be. Fortunately, they can learn a lesson from a win instead of a painful loss.

READ MORE: Jason Kidd speaks about Luka Doncic knee injury

Keep up MavericksGameday for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks during the 2024-2025 season

Follow MavericksGameday on Tweet and Austin Veazey Tweet