Dea Completed: Luka Dončić, Signed A New, Long-Term Contract With The Dallas Mavericks….

OKLAHOMA CITY – Even before the Mavericks took the floor against Oklahoma City on Thursday night, they felt like winners.

While they had to fight this battle without Luka Dončić, and a hard-nosed effort came up just short in a 126-119 OKC victory at Paycom Center, the Mavericks earlier had found out some good news about the superstar point guard.

It appears they dodged a major bullet when it comes to any soft-tissue issue for Dončić.

While Thursday’s matchup with Oklahoma City was the center of their attention, it was with a sigh of relief that the Mavericks entered the game when they got good news regarding Dončić’s sore left hamstring.

“The MRI was clean and will be re-evaluated when we get back to Dallas,” coach Jason Kidd said pregame. “Very good news.”

With soft-tissue injuries like hamstrings, there’s always a level of uncertainty and concern with athletes. But it appears that Luka and the organization dodged a bullet.

With that the Mavericks could focus on the Thunder – until another injury cropped up.

With 4:12 left in the first quarter, Josh Green went down in the backcourt and limped off the court favoring his right foot and did not return.

“It’s a right ankle sprain,” coach Jason Kidd said postgame. “We’ll see how he feels (Friday). But he definitely hurt it and couldn’t come back. But I think X-rays were negative, so that’s a good thing.”

That further depleted the depth when it came to replacing what Dončić brings.

And yet, the Mavericks were hanging tough throughout this late-night affair, which started after 9 p.m., Dallas time, for national TV purposes. They were down by just 111-105 with 7 minutes to play and forced a Thunder miss. But P.J. Washington missed a three-pointer and Lu Dort hit one from distance for the Thunder to make it a 114-105 lead with 6:20 left.

From there, the Thunder kept the pedal mashed down and and while the Mavericks made them sweat, when Shai Gilgeous Alexander made a reverse layup with 1:15 to play, the Thunder were up 124-114. Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points for the Thunder.

The Mavericks got a monster night from Kyrie Irving with 36 points to go with 12 assists. And it was impossible to be upset with the way the Mavericks played on the second night of a back-to-back and without Luka.

It was a night when the Mavericks suffered 19 turnovers that turned into 34 OKC points.

And while both teams did their share of barking at the referees, Kidd said that wasn’t the source of the outcome.

“I think the officials did their job tonight,” he said. “Give Oklahoma City credit. They were the better team. We turned the ball over. We had 19 turnovers for 30-some points. You’re not going to beat one of the best teams in the West by turning the ball over. We have to be better.

“I thought on the road, back-to-back, without Luka, I thought the guys did a great job. The energy and effort was there.”

And while the Thunder showed they are legitimate contenders by gutting out the win, the Mavericks acquitted themselves quite well, too.

“The best teams are going to compete at this time of year,” Kidd said. “Both teams are fighting for something. I thought it was a competitive game. There are going to be some missed calls, but you just got to play through it.

“I thought we handled the atmosphere. This is a great atmosphere. Just the live-ball turnovers. Playing without Luka, we gave ourselves a chance. Everybody in that locker room should be proud of themselves. We just came up short.”

The Mavericks were fighting a tough battle form the start without Dončić. That’s a loss of 34.3 points, 9 rebounds and 9.8 assists. Nobody on the planet can make up those differences on their own.

So it was going to have to be by committee.

Dante Exum got the start for Dončić and either he or Irving were always in the game to handle the bulk of the ballhandling duties. But it was a team effort when it came to picking up the slack left by Luka.

“We’re still a team,” coach Jason Kidd said pregame. “The team concept gives other guys the opportunity to play more minutes. There’s not one person who can make up for Luka. We’re going to need the group to do that. We’ve had injuries before playing without Luka and Kai, so this gives us another chance for others to step up and do their job.”

The game had been tight throughout, although the Thunder eased ahead by 11 points late in the third quarter. A corner t5-hree-pointer with 25 seconds left in the third, however, cut the lead to 95-87 going into the fourth, giving the Mavericks a shred of momentum.