Westbrook had 25 points and 15 assists, Durant added 19 points in a quiet game before he was thrown out following a flagrant foul in the final minute and the Thunder beat the Dallas Mavericks 119-108 on Saturday for a 3-1 series lead.
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Westbrook wasn’t the only Thunder player who has to bring out the checkbook, as Kevin Durant was also fined $15,000 dollars for his fourth quarter flagrant 2 foul.
After reviewing the play, Durant was assessed a flagrant 2, meaning that he could be forced to miss game 5.
With his Dallas Mavericks down 2-1 in the series, with a minus-66 point differential, Rick Carlisle is pulling out all the stops.
The sixth all-time scorer in the National Basketball Association is in his 18th season as a Dallas Maverick as he goes into the summer where he has a player option of $8.6 million for next season. KD’s bad foul of Justin Anderson at the end of Game 4 is a great example.
IN scored the first seven points, took control with a 3-point spree late in the first quarter and led by as much as 25 points in the first half.
The lone Dallas win was an 85-84 victory in Game 2 in Oklahoma City, a game where the Thunder could get nothing going and still nearly won the game at the buzzer.
Durant has seemingly been frustrated throughout the series, struggling to find his offensive stroke on a consistent basis. “I wasn’t trying to hurt him”, Durant said, adding that he texted an apology to Anderson, who went to the same prep school. “I think his intention was to make a play on the ball”.
The Spurs can cap off their fifth series sweep in the past five postseasons Sunday, and their second in that stretch against Memphis.
Despite his up-and-down play, the Thunder have shown they don’t need Durant to light up the Mavericks to win. Regardless, he and Dion Waiters (12 points on 4-of-5 FG) have been tremendous in Games 3 and 4, combining for 80 points on 29-of-38 shooting.
But the living legend looked in Carlisle’s eyes and sternly said one word: “No”.
After the game, Durant said he apologized to Anderson, but that didn’t matter to Mavs C Salah Mejri who ranted after the game about Durant and his cheap shots.
“He’s very deserving as just a wonderful human being, a class act on the court, the way he carries himself and certainly all the things he does in the community”, Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger said. “In the first two games we did a good job with of taking away of guys’ tendencies. Because you’re not going to get any calls”, Howard said.
That’s all Nowitzki is thinking at this point in his career: Make one more push, make one more push.
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Nowitzki, whose scoring proficiency and efficiency at age 37 had been previously accomplished by only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone, is still the primary focal point of every Dallas opponent’s defensive game plan. Raymond Felton had 19 points and a playoff career-high 11 assists.
