Even after facing the beast of Dallas’ bigs, the Thunder still had a chance.

A wild sequence, with several monumental 3s, a few long reps and a final chance for OKC’s Lu Dort to say a prayer, left OKC with the right to cross its fingers.

But his miniature troops had taken OKC as far as they could go in a 121-119 Thunder loss to the Mavericks on Sunday night at Paycom Center.

The depleted core, small and tenacious, had been able to fend off some decent teams all week. It washed away Ivica Zubac and the Clippers. It covered a Pelicans team riding to the Paycom Center in a wheelchair. And without Kevin Durant, it reduced Devin Booker’s Suns, shrinking Jusuf Nurkic to his size.

But the Mavericks, without Luka Doncic, were a much bigger threat than anyone else.

Oklahoma City’s small ball hit an inevitable wall.

On Sunday, Dallas defeated OKC by 24 points – not too shocking considering the Thunder’s week without centers.

But unlike most teams this week, the Mavericks took advantage of the Thunder’s temporary stunting.

PJ Washington, now a drain on OKC’s sanity, managed to get 17 boards. Daniel Gafford & Dereck Lively II, a revolving door of chest-thumping greats, combined for 18 of them.

Lively was much better prepared for OKC’s beehive, beating the swarm with consistent kickouts from the post. Gafford didn’t mind being gentle and working his way through double teams and to the free throw line.

Dallas attempted eight more paint shots. The Thunder shot 15 more 3s.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander epitomized a touch of the paint, sliding to the rim en route to 36 points and eight assists on 13-of-19 shooting. His only three-point attempt came in the wild stretch that gave OKC life.

But Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder’s rare paint touches only meant so much.

It’s hard to cloud the wall the Mavericks have built.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder rally late, falls short for Mavericks