Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Advantage Thunder in I-35 shootout
Oklahoma City Thunder 121 at Dallas Mavericks 116
With playoff positioning at stake for the Dallas Mavericks and a postseason berth on the line for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Saturday night's contest between the offensively potent squads figured to be a 48-minute war.
It did not disappoint, but the Mavericks certainly were disappointed by game's end.
(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
For the Mavericks, an opportunity to grab the season series also presented itself, as Dallas entered the fourth and final regular season meeting between the two squads with a 2-1 edge. Instead, the Thunder got even, ending a nine-game winning streak that the Mavs held over the Thunder in Dallas. In a game with all the ingredients of a playoff series, the young Thunder squad looked more like the veteran ball club, leaving the Mavericks with a sour taste and a hurt ego. Despite a valiant effort in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks couldn't overcome a double-digit deficit, eventually falling 121-116 on the American Airlines Center floor.
"I love the way the group at the end of the game finished...Absolutely full capacity, making things happen," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said after the loss. "That's what it's going to take for us to get where we want to go. We didn't have that for long enough stretches during the 48 minutes."
"I thought we showed a lot of character, fought and clawed back. But we fell a little short," swingman Caron Butler said.
And at the end of the day, it is a loss, dropping the Mavericks into a four-way tie for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoff picture.
From the opening tip, the two teams each tried to land haymakers on their opponent. But the Mavericks got the upper hand early. Thanks to quick starts from Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion, offsetting Kevin Durant and Jeff Green's production, the Mavs grabbed a 37-35 edge at the end of the first quarter. In a high-scoring affair, the Mavs connected on 15-of-20 from the field, compared to 14-of-24 for Oklahoma City. The 37-point output was a season-high for opening quarters by Dallas.
"When you get in a groove offensively, you can't allow it to erode what you are trying to do defensively. We had an eight-point lead at one point in the first quarter and then we gave it up as the quarter came to a close," Carlisle said.
"We scored 37 in the first quarter. The problem is we gave up 35," Brendan Haywood added.
With a nagging injury for Marion (strained left oblique muscle) and early foul trouble for point guard Jason Kidd and center Erick Dampier, who got the start at the five spot, the Mavericks had plenty of obstacles to climb. And the Thunder feasted off the Mavs' misfortunes, with Nick Collison doing much of Oklahoma City's damage inside in the second quarter. That translated into a 67-59 Thunder advantage heading into the break.
"Good teams have got to be able to close out quarters and hold leads in those situations," Carlisle said. "We struggled to do it in the first quarter. And in the second, we got behind and were behind the rest of the night."
Durant posted 15 points at the midway point, while Nowitzki paced the Mavs with 14. The hot shooting continued throughout the first 24 minutes of play, with the Thunder out-shooting the Mavericks 55 percent to 52 percent. Oklahoma City also scored 16 points off of Dallas' seven first half turnovers.
"The turnovers were a huge part of our poor defense. The first half, seven turnovers for 16 points. Sixteen points that are undefendable because you give them the score," the coach explained.
During the intermission, Marion was officially ruled out for the second half due to the injury. No. 0 is listed as day-to-day going forward. With the highflyer grounded, it didn't take long for the Mavericks to go down double figures. But with Kidd back out on the floor, the home squad attempted to rally. The veteran point guard and rookie Rodrigue Beaubois picked up the slack for Marion's absence, lending support to Nowitzki. But the Mavs continued to find themselves on the low side of the scoreboard, trailing by as much as 16 in the third before entering the final quarter down 94-85."We've been getting behind -- sometimes we come back, sometimes we don't. We can't expect to do that if we want to be a good team in the playoffs," Haywood said.
Things got worse before they got better for the Mavericks at the start of the fourth. But things definitely did get better. After falling behind by 19, eight unanswered points after back to back steals on the defensive end kept the Mavericks' heart ticking. The run turned into a 17-2 spurt, cutting the disadvantage to just four, 110-106, with 2:40 left. Thanks to hustle plays from J.J. Barea and Eduardo Najera, the Mavs continued to hang tough.
"Eddie (Najera) started it all. J.J. (Barea) and Eddie came in and really pressured full court. We should have done that a lot earlier," Nowitzki said.
"I think we became more aggressive. The sense of urgency was there...We were playing basketball," Najera added.
Timely turnovers by the Thunder certainly contributed to things. But the upstart Thunder recollected themselves, as Eric Maynor swished home a 3-pointer with 28.9 ticks remaining to give Oklahoma City a 116-109 lead. The Thunder were unable to close the door on the game after missing a few clutch free throws in the final seconds, leading to long range jumpers from Kidd and Najera to extend the game. Still, Kidd's missed three attempt with 3.9 seconds left put the cap on the Oklahoma City win.
After the lose, the Mavericks immediately looked ahead to a possible date with the Thunder in the postseason to settle things once and for all.
"It's disappointing, but maybe we'll see them again in the playoffs. You never know," sixth man Jason Terry predicted.
The Mavericks went down in defeat despite out-shooting the Thunder 53 percent to 52 percent, while winning the rebounding battle 39-34. Dallas also outscored its neighbor to the north 56-46 in the paint.
"We just couldn't get enough stops," Nowitzki said. "You figure if you shoot 53 percent and out-rebound the opponent at home, then you'll win."
But that was not the case.
Thirty-one points surrendered off Dallas' 18 turnovers was a big reason the Mavericks' offensive output was not enough.
"Our defense wasn't good but our offense was. The way we turned the ball over was a major problem," Carlisle concluded.
Nowitzki's 30-point, 13-rebound night came in a losing effort. As did Kidd's 24 points on 10-of-15 from the field. Najera (11) and Barea (10) were the only other Mavs to score in double figures.
Meanwhile, Durant led the Thunder with 23 points and Green finished with 22.
Now the Mavericks try to right the ship after back to back losses to begin a three-game home stand.
"You can't lose back to back games at home, especially a week or two before the playoffs," Nowitzki said.
The team will take the Easter holiday off before returning to the practice court in preparation for Wednesday night's home contest against the Southwest Division rival Memphis Grizzlies. Dallas leads the season series with Memphis 2-1. The Grizzlies-Mavericks matchup will air locally on KTXA and KTXA HD at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.
For up to the minute news on the Dallas Mavericks, visit Mavs.com. Follow Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
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