Wally Skalij/AP
LOS ANGELES — The minutes started dwindling in Game 1.
But the issues were masked with a win.
By Game 4 of the Western Conference second-round playoff series between the Mavericks and Thunder, however, Josh Giddey saw the writing on the wall.
Then-Mavericks guard Luka Doncic and, to a certain extent, Kyrie Irving were hunting down Giddey when they had the ball in their hands. Whether they wanted him in pick-and-roll or isolation, it didn’t matter. They had found the hole in the Thunder’s defense and looked to expose it as long as Giddey was on the court.