The Thunder appeared to take control of the game with a big run in the fourth quarter, but after the Mavericks went on a 12-0 run, the lead was just eight points.
Advertisement
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 24 points apiece, and Oklahoma City completed a season sweep of Dallas with a 116-103 victory Wednesday night.
Whatever “it” is, the rest of the league better hope they don’t find it for good. I mean, you can see the chemistry from playing against them, and that’s something I want to be a part of.
They made their first move by signing veteran forward David Lee, who is coming off of a championship season with the Golden State Warriors.
Westbrook handed out 13 assists for his 10th double-double in 11 games, while Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams combined for 28 points on 13-for-21 shooting.
While Oklahoma City is comfortably in third place in the Western Conference, Dallas has lost six of eight to fall into a group of four teams battling for the last three post-season berths.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said Dallas “didn’t get him to sit him”. “I didn’t like the way we played in the first and fourth quarters tonight – and those are pretty important quarters”.
The Thunder outrebounded the Mavs by 10 and ended a two-game losing streak.
“The way we was playing, the ball was moving, they were finding me … it was just a matter of time”. “If they’re doing a good job, he’s still going to play in the flow of the game”. The 7-footer had a pair of offensive rebounds and baskets to go with two blocks when the teams were trading the lead. Besides the youth of Powell, Lee has the capability of being more productive than the other three guys competing for minutes. Coach Billy Donovan put the “adversity is good for a team” label on the blowout loss while Westbrook and small forward Kevin Durant went in the “no-panic, it’s not a big deal” direction. The 11-year veteran grabbed an offensive rebound, tossed the ball out, got it back, and scored less than a minute into his first appearance as a Mavs player. But 3-pointers by Durant (24 points) and Dion Waiters (14 points) pushed the Thunder lead to 111-98.
Dirk Nowitzki, who had a season-high 33 points, scored six consecutive points to get the Mavericks within 51-49 late in the second period.
Mavericks: Rookie C Salah Mejri had four blocks in the first half, including one each on Durant and Westbrook for the second straight game…. Dirk Nowitzki leads in points with 17.4 while Deron Williams leads in assists with 5.5 per game. Raymond Felton had 10 points and nine assists. Durant is averaging 27.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.
Advertisement
The 52-42 rebound margin really isn’t that surprising, given OKC’s dominance on the glass.
