Basketball World

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma — Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd used their experiences to guide the Dallas Mavericks to a shocking 112-105 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 of the NBA’s Western Conference final Monday night.

“We worked really hard these two games to win, and none of that guarantees anything for Game 5. We know that,” said coach Rick Carlisle.

“All of us involved with this team have been through a lot of these wars,” Carlisle added. “We understand our position that we’re in.

“We respect it. We’re very humble about it. We’ve got to get ourselves revved up and ready for Wednesday, because that’s an opportunity.”

Down big in the last closing quarter of the game, the Mavericks stayed focus and rallied from a 15-point deficit in the final 5 minutes of regulation to pull off the stunning win.
Nowitzki scored 12 of his 40 points in the dramatic fourth quarter comeback, where Dallas used a 17-2 run to force the game into overtime.

“It’s just a bunch of veterans with a lot of unique stories. A lot of guys have been through a lot in this league and have been around forever,” Nowitzki said.

“A bunch of guys have been to the finals. … Ultimately, we have one goal and we came together and fought through some stuff.”

Kidd then hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 40.3 seconds remaining in overtime and finished with 17 and seven assists in the win that put the Mavericks 3-1 up in the seven game series.

Jason Terry added 20 points, while Shawn Marion was crucial when called on for his defensive skills for Dallas.

Kevin Durant led the way for the Thunder with 29 points and 15 rebounds, while Russell Westbrook added 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Serge Ibaka finished with 18 points, 10 boards and five blocks.

The Thunder also got 12 points apiece from Thabo Sefolosha and Nick Collison, who also grabbed seven boards in a game that James Harden fouled out.

Oklahoma City were suffering their first consecutive losses of the postseason and the first back-to-back home losses in six months.

Game 5 will be Wednesday night in Dallas.

“There’s no doubt it was a tough loss,” Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. “If this loss did not hurt, there’s no such thing as a loss that can hurt you.”





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Dallas Mavericks-Oklahoma Thunder (Game 3)

The Oklahoma City Thunder lost Game 3 to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night, 93-87, and this time Russell Westbrook is not the man fans will point their fingers at. However, it will be interesting to see fan’s reactions to the loss since the man to blame for the Thunder’s woes is Kevin Durant.

Kevin Durant is the poster boy for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Even when Russell Westbrook or James Harden or Serge Ibaka is tearing it up on the court, fans still chant “GO KD!” Unfortunately for the Thunder, KD did not answer the fans calls in Oklahoma City on Saturday night and Dallas took a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals.

Kevin Durant only hit 7 of 22 shots on the night and did not hit a single 3 the entire game. The entire Thunder team failed behind the arch, only hitting one from long distance, but Kevin Durant was the one whose misses killed the Thunder. As a matter of fact, the NBA scoring leader only has one 3-pointer in his last 17 attempts.

"I was telling myself after the game, 'It's not like me to miss 12 or 13 threes in a row,'" Durant said after the game. "I get 'em up every day [in practice]. I work on it every day. It's just a matter of me being confident."

After scoring 40 and 24 in the first two games respectively, Kevin Durant finished Game 3 with another 24 point game but ten of those came on free throws and Durant even missed one of those.

"Frustrating," said Durant after the game. "It's tough to start a game, not make shots and you give teams easy baskets. That's like a backbreaker."

Russell Westbrook, on the other hand, rebounded from his ‘benching’ in Game 2 and scored 30 points with four assists and seven rebounds.

However, not all the blame can be laid at the feet of Kevin Durant. Scott Brooks should know by now that the Thunder need their bench to play strong to win games. In Game 3, Brooks played James Harden for 36 minutes and Nick Collison for 24 but that was it, save for short stints by Eric Maynor and Daequan Cook. After relying on the bench to pull out the win on Thursday, they only scored 16 points on Saturday.






Related posts:
Chicago Bulls-Miami heat (Game 3)
Dallas Mavericks-Oklahoma Thunder (Game 4)
Chicago Bulls-Miami Heat (Game 4)
Dallas Mavericks-Oklahoma Thunder (Game 5)
Chicago Bulls-Miami Heat (Game 5)