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An elbow and technical shows just how far Josh Giddey's defense evolved

Related Topics: Josh Giddey, Kyrie Irving

Wally Skalij/AP

LOS ANGELES – The minutes started dwindling in Game 1.

Maybe because the issues were masked with a win.

By Game 4 of the second-round Western Conference playoff series between Dallas and Oklahoma City, however, Josh Giddey admittedly saw the writing on the wall.

Then-Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, and to a certain extent Kyrie Irving, were hunting Giddey down 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 floor.