Review: Dallas Mavericks fall to the OKC Thunder, 112-91

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“The last couple weeks have been choppy at times for us, but one thing you can say about our guys — our guys compete. They work very hard and they did that again tonight. No one on our team is perfect but you always see a lot of good effort,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks.

The OKC Thunder came in to this one with a sore taste in their mouth after having lost a game in Cleveland, but they redeemed themselves at the expense of the Dallas Mavericks who were without Chris Kaman (concussion) and Vince Carter (flu). The Thunder have a thing for bouncing back as they are 11-1 this season in games following losses and 46-10 over the last three seasons. They took this one 112-91 in an emphatic fashion.

“A good team usually responds to losses like that. I remember we used to be like that,” said a sad Nowitzki.

The Thunder were led by Russell Westbrook, who had 24 points on 8 of 16 shooting. He added 7 assists and 3 steals. Kevin Durant added 19 points on 6 of 11 shooting and had a double-double with 10 rebounds added to the mix. He also had 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. Kevin Martin had a sweet alley-oop off a pass by Westbrook (it’s the other way around) as he finished with 17 points on 7 for 12 shooting.

For the Mavericks, Shawn Marion had a season high 23 points on 1 for 24 shooting with one rebound and 3 steals. I’ve been watching him play forever and I still can’t get used to that weird shot form he has where he pretty much throws the ball at the rim as if pushing it away. What matters is that it is effective as he showed today.

Dirk Nowitzki was back for the Mavericks after missing two games with a right adductor strain, but he didn’t play too well, going 3 for 11 from the field for 10 points. OJ Mayo and Darren Collision had only 8 points a piece and 10 assists between them. Jae Crowder added 10 points and Dominique Jones had 15.

“When we substituted, we struggled. Not having Vince [Carter] out there was a big factor. We’ve got to play better too, that’s where it’s at”- Rick Carlisle, Mavs coach.

The Thunder had been torching and torturing the Mavericks this season, winning their last two games of the season in overtime while Kevin Durant averaged 46 points in those contests. Mercifully they took this one in regulation. The game was pushed away in the second quarter itself as the Thunder shot a whooping 73.7 percent by going 14 for 19 in the second. They also held the Mavericks to 9 for 23 shooting for a paltry 39.1%. They pushed the lead to 27 points as Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka combined for 26 points in the second quarter as none of those players missed a shot. The Mavericks gave up 68 points in the first half and that is a season worst for the Mavs and ties for a season best by the Thunder.

“The last time they came in here, they hit us in the mouth early,” Durant said. “And I just told the guys that we’ve got to be the first hitter tonight and we’ve got to come out with a lot of energy, and I think we did that.”

The Mavericks did have a solid first ten minutes as they shot 70% from the field in that span. But the Thunder countered with their second unit, which began to slow the onslaught. In the second half the Thunder were firmly in control as they never let the lead get to below 20 and led by as much as 33 points in the 4th quarter.

“I didn’t think we had enough playmakers out there and we had some stupid turnovers, that always gets us in trouble. One time we couldn’t even get the ball inbounds. Sometimes they swarmed us and that always gets us in trouble.”- Dirk nowitzki

Kevin Durant is not nice, to quote the Nike campaign, which was born after Durant received a message from his grandmother saying “Kevin stop cussing so much. They show you on TV when you do.” In general Durant is a nice enough competitor as he has only had 12 technical fouls in his career till this season. He was whistled for another technical foul today, making it his ninth for this season, which ties for the most in the league. Perkins picked up his 7th technical. Players are suspended for a game if they pick up 16 technical fouls in a season and Durant seems to be headed that way sooner rather than later. .

The Mavericks next face the Portland Trailblazers, a tough test for Dirk Nowitzki as he’s just easing in to go and face LaMarcus Aldridge. “We don’t have any excuses. At this point, that would be lame to blame it on that,” said coach Rick Carlisle, who was looking to get his 500th career win. “We got two days of rest. We were in Phoenix for a couple days. Supposedly that air makes you feel better.”

The Thunder will take on the Golden State Warriors and will lose that one if history is any indication. They have alternated wins and losses in their last nine games in some bizarre version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Thunder improved to 36-12 and the Mavs dropped to 20-28.

Here are the highlights from this game: