After James Harden Fouls Out, Dirk And The Mavs Break The Thunder Hearts
Dirk Nowitzki scores a dead eye 40 and the Mavs defeat the Thunder 112-105. Dallas came back from 15 down with a little less than five minutes to go to put the Thunder on the brink and now lead the Western Conference Finals 3-1. Didn’t think OKC would lose this game at home…late but yeah…it really happened…
The main reason I picked both the Mavs and the Heat was because of Thunder and Bulls inexperience. Has nothing to do with talent but more about going through the rigors of NBA life game by playoff game by Finals game.
The Thunder haven’t. The Bulls haven’t. Players on the Heat have and so have those on the Mavs.
Dirk, in the eyes of many, has straight up choked in some instances and that MVP presentation was like a eulogy but now that the league has evolved and he’s the vet, these kids are shrinking to his measure.You gotta give him his props because he’s splashing big shot. Big shots. Never thought I’d say that but it’s real.
I tweeted prematurely when OKC went up by 15…
Then the Mavs went on a 17-2 (Dirk had 12) tear in the final 4:48 to shoot daggers into Zeus’ Thunder.
This was all after James Harden fouled out. Like I…and many others here and elsewhere have stated, he truly seems to be a key. Those of us who have played hoops know that a lefty is a difficult guard because his/her moves are like looking at yourself in a mirror…while holding a mirror. It’s mental and something you truly never get used to. Harden had a decent game with 7 points and 7 assists but it was more his impact on the jazz of the offense that was amiss as he strolled to the bench with foul number six.
Dirk was again…incredible. The one sequence where he spun both ways in the lane on Collison, up faked and shot a slippery jumper was so pretty. Nasty even. Yet and still…don’t get it twisted.
Kevin Durant facing Dirk is a great thing. He gets to see how it’s done the savvy way. Dirk isn’t the best athlete but his fade step back off one foot is like Barry Bonds’ timing mechanism and should be emulated by every kid picking up a rock…for it’s a weapon.
Durant had 29 and 15 but also had 9 turnovers. He shot 9-22. Westbrook shot 7-22 for 19 but did have 8 boards and 8 dimes. Both players took some bad shots late and the Durant shot that Marion blocked with 6.4 remaining was head shaking. Westbrook received the inbounds pass and immediately gave it to Durant (Here…take it man. No one wants me to shoot it). There didn’t see to be a killer purpose there by either one of the Thunder’s stars but this all will come with age. Durant and Westbrook have to learn from this just as Dirk and Kidd (17 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals). Kidd’s big three basically won the game. Jason Terry had 20 off the bench.
25 turnovers is not gonna get it down and just to show how much turnovers affect the game, the Thunder had a 55-33 rebounding edge…a whole game of Moses tapping the rock to himself and you still lose.
Game 5 Wednesday, 9 pm EST ESPN.
| Dallas | |||||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FGM-FGA | FTM-FTA | 3PM-3PA | +/- | OR | Reb | A | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts | |
| D. Nowitzki | F | 45:00 | 12-20 | 14-15 | 2-3 | +9 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 40 | |
| S. Marion | F | 38:26 | 1-5 | 5-6 | 0-0 | +7 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 7 | |
| T. Chandler | C | 35:22 | 2-4 | 1-1 | 0-0 | +10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | |
| J. Kidd | G | 40:57 | 5-9 | 4-4 | 3-6 | +8 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 17 | |
| D. Stevenson | G | 12:41 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 1-4 | -10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| J. Terry | 41:39 | 7-19 | 4-4 | 2-6 | +19 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 20 | ||
| B. Haywood | 17:37 | 2-2 | 5-8 | 0-0 | -3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| P. Stojakovic | 16:49 | 2-7 | 0-0 | 0-3 | +2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| J. Barea | 16:28 | 3-10 | 1-1 | 0-3 | -7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| C. Brewer | DNP — COACH’S DECISION | ||||||||||||||
| B. Cardinal | DNP — COACH’S DECISION | ||||||||||||||
| I. Mahinmi | DNP — COACH’S DECISION | ||||||||||||||
| R. Beaubois | DNP — INACTIVE | ||||||||||||||
| C. Butler | DNP — INACTIVE | ||||||||||||||
| D. Jones | DNP — INACTIVE | ||||||||||||||
| Totals | 265 | 35-81 (.432) |
34-39 (.872) |
8-25 (.320) |
- | 5 | 33 | 16 | 2 | 15 | 13 | 22 | 112 | ||
| Oklahoma City | |||||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FGM-FGA | FTM-FTA | 3PM-3PA | +/- | OR | Reb | A | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts | |
| K. Durant | F | 48:58 | 9-22 | 9-10 | 2-7 | -6 | 3 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 29 | |
| S. Ibaka | F | 47:29 | 8-15 | 2-2 | 0-0 | -10 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 18 | |
| K. Perkins | C | 25:26 | 3-5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | +9 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| R. Westbrook | G | 41:58 | 7-22 | 5-8 | 0-3 | -7 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 19 | |
| T. Sefolosha | G | 30:19 | 6-10 | 0-0 | 0-2 | -9 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 12 | |
| N. Collison | 31:10 | 5-7 | 2-2 | 0-0 | -14 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 12 | ||
| J. Harden | 22:53 | 3-5 | 1-2 | 0-0 | +4 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 | ||
| E. Maynor | 11:09 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| D. Cook | 5:38 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| R. Ivey | DNP — COACH’S DECISION | ||||||||||||||
| N. Mohammed | DNP — COACH’S DECISION | ||||||||||||||
| N. Robinson | DNP — COACH’S DECISION | ||||||||||||||
| C. Aldrich | DNP — INACTIVE | ||||||||||||||
| B. Mullens | DNP — INACTIVE | ||||||||||||||
| R. Vaden | DNP — INACTIVE | ||||||||||||||
| Totals | 265 | 42-90 (.467) |
19-25 (.760) |
2-13 (.154) |
- | 20 | 55 | 23 | 9 | 9 | 25 | 29 | 105 | ||
|
Officials: Dan Crawford, Tony Brothers, Ken Mauer
Attendance: 18,203 Time of Game: 3:02 |
Technicals Dallas - T. Chandler (6:07 – 3rd Qtr) - Team (11:11 – 4th Qtr) |
Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
The Thunder didn’t deserve to win. 25 turnovers. 2 missed FT’s down the stretch. Gotta close. No premature jocularity. Focus on the finish.
Temple – This was typical of young teams……on a side note that was the worst ball handling and passing I have seen since the Magic played the Lakers in the Finals 2 years ago.
Still I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bulls won tonight (Especially the way the Heat aren’t rebounding or making free throws tonight). And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Thunder beat the Mavs tomorrow.
Also coach Brooks called a bad game. I don’t know how many times I saw the players on offense standing still as Westbrook dribbled the ball. There was no ball movement…..then on top of that he goes away from doubling Dirk even though it worked in game 2 and 3. That was incredibly foolish……..as a side note I knew that the Thunder were done once Harden fouled out with 5 minutes left in the game.
Yep the Heat are playing like straight trash tonight………this series is for sure going 7. If it goes 7 games TNT will get 20 million viewers for that game.
Well Lebron and the Heat made me look like a fool……….just like they have done to many folks in the mainstream media….LOL!!
Man the Heat played like crap the 1st half and looked like they weren’t gonna pull it out. But the Heat turned it up defensively and Lebron played like a combination of Magic/Pippen. Plus Chalmers and my boy Mike Miller (poor Mike looks like Edward Scissor Hands with that tape on his hands) found their touch from outside. The rotation of Chalmers, Bibby, Wade and Lebron is really taking a toll on him. He was beat by the overtime.
I see folks on forums like realgm already hating now since the Bulls are down 3-1. Either its Rose (who is only a 3rd year player) is a choke artist and didn’t deserve the MVP. Or its how the Heat are a bunch of thugs and that Dirk and the Mavs deserve the Championship more then the Heat. I swear when the Heat beat the Mavs “theres gonna be a lot of slow singing and flower bringing”.
Watching these playoffs just reinforces why I love the NBA playoffs more then any other playoff in sports. Just the contrast between young teams vs older teams. Teams with experience teams vs. teams without experience.