Mavericks-Thunder Preview

DAN PIERINGER
Posted Dec 29 2011 4:04PM

It has been more than 40 years since a defending NBA champion lost its first three games. Heading into Oklahoma City, the Dallas Mavericks are in danger of doing just that.

Four days after raising their championship banner, the Mavericks look to avoid their third straight loss Thursday night when they visit the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are aiming for their first 4-0 start since 2002, when they were the Seattle SuperSonics.

Dallas won its first title last season, winning at least 50 games for the 11th straight year and eliminating Portland, the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, the Thunder and heavily-favored Miami in the playoffs.

The team chemistry that helped the Mavericks through their playoff run has been noticeably absent early this season, with Dallas losing its first two games by an average of 16.5 points. The Mavericks trailed by as many as 35 in their season opener against the Heat and by 33 during a 115-93 loss to Denver on Monday. They've allowed 110.0 points per game after holding teams to an average of 96.0 last season.

"We look old and slow and out of shape, a bad combination," said NBA Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki, who has sat out the entire fourth quarter of both games because they have been so lopsided. "I still think this team has a lot of potential. But we have to turn the corner."

The last NBA champions to lose their first two games the following season were the Los Angeles Lakers at the start of 2002-03. No reigning champion has started 0-3 since the Boston Celtics lost four straight in 1969-70, immediately following the retirement of Bill Russell.

Dallas lost its first four games in 2006-07 but recovered to post 67 wins. This season could be different, however, because of the lockout, the abbreviated training camp and preseason schedule, and significant roster turnover. The Mavericks are trying to incorporate new additions Lamar Odom, Vince Carter and Delonte West while making up for the departures of Tyson Chandler and J.J. Barea.

"I've got a lot of work to do," coach Rick Carlisle said.

Carlisle's club didn't have much trouble with the Thunder last season, winning six of eight meetings including four of five in the Western Conference finals. The Mavs were 4-0 in Oklahoma City, where they averaged 104.8 points.

Oklahoma City (3-0) has looked strong early this season. Kevin Durant had 32 points and eight rebounds and James Harden added 20 points off the bench in a 98-95 win over Memphis on Wednesday night.

Durant missed six of his first seven shots but finished 10 of 17 from the field.

"You know, I think I'm maturing as a player," he said. "Last year, if I got off to a slow start, I would have let it affect me. But I try to keep my composure and believe in myself."

Durant helped make up for a terrible performance by Russell Westbrook, who missed all 13 of his field-goal attempts. The All-Star point guard is shooting 31.4 percent (16 for 51) and averaging 6.0 turnovers during Oklahoma City's undefeated start.

Durant is averaging 31.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting 55.9 percent.

Nowitzki missed Dallas' loss to Oklahoma City last regular season with a knee injury. Two of his three highest-scoring performances of 2010-11 came in the playoff series against the Thunder, scoring a season-high 48 in Game 1 and 40 in Game 4.

Durant leads Thunder past Mavericks 104-102

By JEFF LATZKE
Posted Dec 30 2011 12:24AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Kevin Durant thought he might have just given away a victory and let the Dallas Mavericks steal another one in heartbreaking fashion.

Then he found a way to take it right back.

Durant scored 30 points and hit a 3-pointer at the final buzzer to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 104-102 win against Dallas on Thursday night in a rematch of last season's Western Conference finals.

"As a kid, of course you dream about hitting a game-winning shot in the NBA," said Durant, who has hit two other game-winners at the buzzer in his five seasons.

"It's a dream come true."

The Thunder let Dallas wipe away a five-point deficit in the final 46 seconds to go ahead on Vince Carter's 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds remaining. That was just enough time for Thabo Sefolosha to get the ball to Durant, who drilled a 3 from the right wing that improved his team to 4-0.

"It was crazy, a crazy course of events," Durant said. "When two tough teams always go at it, it always comes down to the last play."

Dirk Nowitzki had 29 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Mavericks, whose title defense is off to a 0-3 start. Dallas had been blown out in its first two losses against Miami and Denver before letting a close one slip away.

"I think the more we go out and just play the game itself more, good things happen on the court," Shawn Marion said.

"We've got to just go out there and stop worrying about other things and just go out there and just play the game and just play hard."

Russell Westbrook had 16 points in his second straight subpar performance, but he made up for it with a few critical plays down the stretch.

He started the game 3 for 11 - with one of the makes coming when Jason Kidd blocked his shot and Brendan Haywood tipped it up and in - and had seven turnovers before getting a longer-than-usual benching in favor of Eric Maynor.

Westbrook returned when the game got close midway through the fourth quarter, providing a momentary lead with a two-handed breakaway dunk that turned into a three-point play.

He followed that with a 17-footer from the right wing for a 96-93 lead, but the Mavericks - who made it a habit to stage late comebacks against Oklahoma City in last season's West finals - had a few tricks left.

Nowitzki tied it at 96 with a 3-pointer but, after a Durant jumper, was called for a technical foul for arguing an offensive foul. Durant hit that foul shot and Westbrook added another jumper from the right elbow to put Oklahoma City up 101-96 with 46 seconds left.

Jason Terry hit a 3-pointer to get Dallas within two. Durant then missed a 3-pointer at the other end and Serge Ibaka missed both of his free throws after getting fouled on an offensive rebound.

Nowitzki pitched it back to Carter for the go-ahead 3, and Durant blamed himself for going for a block against Nowitzki and leaving Carter open.

Durant returned to the bench for a timeout, with rookie Reggie Jackson screaming encouragement that he was going to hit the game-winner.

"I just tried to be confident, tell myself I could make it and luckily I did," Durant said.

"It's special to hit a game-winner," he added. "The season's still young. To beat the champs in the early season is always pretty cool, but we've got to move on and get ready for the next game."

Ibaka finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and three blocks for Oklahoma City.

Terry had 16 points and nine assists, and Delonte West scored 15 for the Mavericks, who rallied from 15 points down in the final 5 minutes of regulation in Game 4 of the West finals - the teams' last meeting that counted in the arena. Dallas also overcame an eight-point, fourth-quarter deficit in the clinching Game 5.

Before the game, both Oklahoma City All-Stars downplayed a report in The Oklahoman of a dispute between them during the team's win at Memphis a night earlier.

"It wasn't nothing that people should be blowing out of proportions," Durant said. "It happens every single day. Teams go through emotions, things happen. It's a competitive sport. Everybody's not going to always come in and be happy every single day."

Westbrook simply said: "What happened? I don't know what you're talking about."

Coach Scott Brooks said the whole team was frustrated over a series of bad possessions of pick-and-roll defense and everyone, not just the superstars, but he didn't see it as anything out of the ordinary.

"To me, an altercation - in my world, it's a fight or it's a shove or something like that. A debate or a discussion is totally different than an altercation but that did not happen," Brooks said. "I've been coaching these guys for four years and we haven't had one fight, which surprises me, and we haven't had any issues that were below the belt that I had to step in."

Brooks said he thinks it drew more attention only because the Thunder are now a prominent team.

"I don't really think nothing happened. ... Everybody on the bench was yelling, the coaches was yelling, not at each other in a bad way but trying to get everything in order," Durant said.

NOTES: The Mavs beat the Thunder in five games in the West finals, then lost both preseason games against Oklahoma City. Yet another meeting is scheduled for Monday in Dallas. Thunder coach Scott Brooks admitted revenge could be a factor. "Most of our guys are not too far out of high school, so when your crosstown rival beats you, you want to beat them the next Friday night," Brooks said. ... After being outrebounded 98-68 in its first two games, Dallas was even on the boards. Both teams had 38. ... Oklahoma City had 26 turnovers.

Notebook: Thunder 104, Mavericks 102

By Randy Renner, for NBA.com
Posted Friday December 30, 2011 12:01AM

THE FACTS: The Oklahoma City Thunder overcame 26 turnovers and star forward Kevin Durant overcame a defensive mistake when he nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give his team a thrilling 104-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks Thursday night.

Moments before Durant nailed the game winner he left the Mavs Vince Carter alone at the top of the arc. Carter took a pass from Dirk Nowitzki and drained a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 102-101 lead with just :01.4 showing on the clock.

Durant's teammates told him to forget about the error because they would come back and win. The two-time All-Star played off two screens set by teammates and took the inbounds pass from Thabo Sefolosha and launched a 27-footer that hit nothing but net and set off a frenzy inside sold-out Chesapeake Energy Arena. Durant led all scorers with 30 points. He added 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots. Durant has scored at least 30 points in all four games this season.

Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Jason Terry had 16 including four 3-pointers. Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka added 16 and point guard Russell Westbrook, after having gone just 3-for-24 in his previous seven quarters was 3-for-4 in the last 12 minutes of the game and also finished with 16.

Oklahoma City is now 4-0 with the four wins coming in five nights. Dallas falls to 0-3.

QUOTABLE: "Kevin left Vince Carter so it was sort of redemption for him. That was a big play. Kevin is a play maker and a shot maker. He's mentally as tough as they come."
-- Thunder coach Scott Brooks

QUOTABLE II: "We're making some strides, we forced a lot of turnovers (26) but making progress and being the team you need to be are two different things."
-- Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle

THE STAT: The Thunder shot 58.7 percent but gave up 33 points on 26 turnovers.

QUOTABLE III: "We just turned the ball over too many times, you usually don't win a game when you turn it over 26 times. But our guys played as hard as we can play. Our tank is empty."
-- Scott Brooks

TURNING POINT: The game twisted and turned several times in the final moments. The Thunder led by five with :46.0 left after Westbrook hit a 17-footer. Then Terry nailed a 3-pointer to cut the margin to two. Ibake missed two free throws to leave the door open for the Mavs with 09.7 on the clock. Nowitzki then made his pass to a wide open Carter for what appeared to be the winner until Durant dropped his bomb on the Mavs as time ran out.

HOT: During the second four minute stretch of the first quarter the Thunder hit five out of six shots...In the first half Oklahoma City shot 60.6 percent ... Durant was 6-for-8 in the first half. He finished 10-for-16 (62.5 percent)... Ibaka was 4-for-6 at halftime and finished 6-for-9 ... Nowitzki was 4-for-6 in the first 24 minutes and finished 9-for-17.

NOT: Oklahoma City started the game by missing three of its first four shots and turning the ball over six times in the first four minutes...Westbrook was 2-for-7 in the first half, in his last three halves Westbrook is 2-for-20. He finished 6-for-15 but 3-for-4 in the fourth quarter...Dallas forward Shawn Marion was 1-for-6 in the first half, and 4-for-11 overall...Lamar Odom was 2-for-8 at halftime and 0-for-3 in the second half...Jason Terry was 2-for-7 in the first half and 4-for-10 in the second.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Emmy and Tony Award winning actress Kristin Chenoweth, an Oklahoma native, sang the National Anthem. She has starred in You're a Good Man Charlie Brown and Wicked on Broadway and also appeared in numerous TV series and movies.

GOOD MOVE: Midway through the first quarter, Ibaka stepped in front of Nowitzki to intercept a pass from point guard Jason Kidd. Ibaka then raced down the court for a slam.

GOOD MOVE, TOO: Toward the end of the first quarter Thunder guard James Harden waited for forward Nick Collison to screen out Marion then Harden drove around and past forward Sean Williams for a layup.

GOOD MOVE III: Late in the second quarter, Terry drove toward the lane then fired a bullet pass to Ian Mahinmi who was all alone for a slam.

NOTABLE: The Thunder franchise is 4-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season when the team was still in Seattle...The Mavericks are 0-3 for the first time since 2006-07 when they began the season 0-4 but then went on to win a franchise best 67 games.

UP NEXT: For the Mavericks, Friday vs Raptors, Sunday @ Minnesota, Monday vs Thunder. For the Thunder, Saturday vs Suns, Monday @ Dallas, Tuesday vs Trail Blazers

• Mavericks: Wright
• Thunder: Ivey, Reid

• Mavericks: Carter, Nowitzki, West, Williams
• Thunder: Harden, Ibaka

• Lead Changes: 15
• Times Tied: 10

• Arena: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
• Officials: #17 Joe Crawford, #31 Scott Wall, #33 Zach Zarba
• Attendance: 18203
• Duration: 2:34