Mavericks-Thunder Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
Posted Mar 04 2012 5:29PM

Dirk Nowitzki seems to have found his shooting stroke in time for another scoring duel with Kevin Durant.

These All-Stars will be the focal point Monday night when Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder look to stretch their home win streak to 13 games as they face Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks.

Nowitzki scored a season-high 40 points as Dallas (22-16) snapped a four-game losing streak with a 102-96 home victory over Utah on Saturday. He had 20 in each half, and 13 in a row for his team at one point.

"I had a good rhythm tonight," said Nowitzki, who shot 39.3 percent during the Mavericks' losing streak. "I had not been really been shooting the ball well, especially from 15 to 16 feet. I just wanted to be aggressive and my teammates kept feeding me."

Durant, meanwhile, is averaging 28.2 points for the season as he continues to battle the Lakers' Kobe Bryant and Miami's LeBron James for the scoring title. He is averaging 28.7 while helping Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City (29-8) take two of three from Dallas this season after the Mavs won last year's West finals in five games.

Nowitzki is averaging 21.0 points in the season series after being held to eight points on 2-of-15 shooting in the last meeting, a 95-86 home loss Feb. 1.

The German 7-footer averaged 32.2 points with two 40-point efforts in last year's conference finals while Durant averaged 28.0.

Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook has averaged 22.0 points in the first three meetings with Dallas, but is among the league's worst with 4.1 turnovers per game. The Thunder average a league-worst 16.5 turnovers, and had 21 that led to 22 points for Atlanta in Saturday's 97-90 road loss.

"We've got to fix it," coach Scott Brooks said. "We keep talking about it. We're working on it. But we've got to figure out that because it's going to be hard to win night in, night out the way we turn it over."

The Thunder had their seven-game win streak snapped. Durant scored 35, but made 3 of 10 shots from the field in a fourth quarter in which Oklahoma City connected on 5 of 21.

"We've won so many games down the stretch, and to lose this one, it's tough, but it's the luck of the draw, man," Durant said. "We've got to move on."

Oklahoma City will be confident about returning home, where they are 15-1 and will try to record the franchise's first 13-game win streak since a 17-game run in Seattle from Nov. 11, 1994-Jan. 24, 1995. The Thunder are 6-1 after their first seven defeats.

Dallas comes to town after Lamar Odom returned Saturday with nine points, five rebounds and three blocks after he missed four games because of a family matter and personal reasons.

"It was really personal, something I had to tend to," Odom said. "Mark Cuban is a great owner for understanding and knowing that sometimes we have to fix what's going on off the court in order for us to fix what's on the court."

Thunder rally late to beat Mavericks 95-91

By JEFF LATZKE
Posted Mar 05 2012 11:57PM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) The Oklahoma City Thunder's top trio struggled to make shots all night.

With one final flurry, they were still able to keep rolling at home.

Russell Westbrook scored 24 points, Kevin Durant added 22 and the Thunder scored the final eight points to escape with a 95-91 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night and run their home winning streak to 13 games.

Durant, Westbrook and top reserve James Harden went a combined 16 for 49 from the field as Oklahoma City managed to pull one out without needing to make a basket in the final 2 minutes.

"The thing is with us, we've just got to continue to just keep playing hard no matter if we're making shots or not, and playing together on both ends," said Durant, who missed 12 of his 18 shots.

"It was a sloppy game but I'm glad we came out on top."

Westbrook answered Dirk Nowitzki's fourth 3-pointer of the final period by hitting one of his own from the right wing to get Oklahoma City within 91-90 with 2:25 remaining, and Dallas didn't score again.

Serge Ibaka hit two free throws with 46 seconds left to give Oklahoma City the lead, and Jason Terry missed two shots down the stretch for the Mavericks.

Afterward, Dallas coach Rick Carlisle protested the call that allowed Ibaka to attempt the go-ahead free throws after Ian Mahinmi swatted his shot away.

"I'm in disbelief that there was a foul called on Mahinmi. I just watched the play five times. It's a block. That's it. That's an enormous play," Carlisle said in opening his postgame comments.

"Then Nowitzki gets hit on the arm at the other end and there's no call. I'm at a loss, so I apologize for that."

The Mavericks still had a shot to go back ahead and then another attempt at the tie, but Terry missed both times.

"We haven't really been sharp on our execution at the end of ball games and that's hurt us," said Terry, who scored nine of his 18 points in the fourth quarter. "Not a big concern because I know the type of team we are. We thrive in those situations.

"We've got to just keep clawing it out. Eventually it will swing our way and we'll pull these games out, but it's been a thorn in our side the entire season."

Nowitzki finished with 27 points but didn't touch the ball on a key possession when Dallas was down by two with 13 seconds left.

Instead, Terry and Jason Kidd passed the ball back and forth with Kidd getting stuck under the basket before tossing it right back. Terry missed on a short jumper along the right baseline that would have tied it, and Westbrook hit two free throws to ice it after grabbing the rebound.

Terry said "that was definitely not the plan" and guessed that Kidd must have seen something in the defense that he didn't.

"I still ended up getting a pretty decent shot, I thought, under duress. But again, I ask for the ball in that situation and if I get another opportunity, I'm betting on myself to win," Terry said.

Carlisle said Kidd was wide open under the basket but Terry didn't see him in time.

"It just was a really unusual play but it never should have come to that," Carlisle said.

Harden had 16 points on 4-for-11 shooting and Kendrick Perkins grabbed a season-high 14 rebounds for West-leading Oklahoma City. Westbrook missed 14 of his 20 shot attempts.

"It happens like that some nights. We've just got to stay consistent with what we do defensively and everything will play out," Westbrook said.

The Thunder were held to their second-worst shooting performance of the season, at 38.2 percent.

"We gutted this one out, man," Durant said. "They did a great job of throwing different defenses at us. ... They mixed it up on us. It was tough to kind of get a rhythm for a few of us."

Oklahoma City made up for it with a hefty free-throw advantage, making 29 of 33 while Dallas got to the line only 10 times and made all of them. On that note, Carlisle said : "I don't want to be accusatory to the officials. I thought our guys were aggressive enough to have deserved a few more chances."

Mahinmi added 13 points, all in the first half, after being pressed into action when starting center Brendan Haywood was hurt just seconds into the game.

Already without reserve center Brandan Wright because of a concussion, the Mavericks lost Haywood on the opening possession of the game. Haywood won the tip-off, then got the ball inside before missing a shot and landing with his left foot on top of Perkins' left foot. He hobbled up the court to foul Durant and then headed to locker room and did not return.

Carlisle had no timetable on when Haywood would be able to return.

Mahinmi had seven points, including a three-point play, during a 15-5 run that put Dallas up 52-42 with 1:20 to go before halftime.

The Thunder scored the final three points of the first half and then were able to reverse a seven-point halftime deficit during the third quarter. Oklahoma City scored the first seven points after halftime to tie it at 52 on Westbrook's jumper from the right elbow with 9:24 left, then pulled ahead 68-61 with another string of seven consecutive points late in the third.

Nowitzki scored all 12 of his fourth-quarter points by making all four of his 3-point attempts but he never got a chance when it counted the most.

Dallas suffered another tough loss after dropping its previous visit to Oklahoma City 104-102 loss when Durant hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"There's a lot of scrambles at the end of the games. That's why it's important to play from in front when you can. ... There's no excuse," Carlisle said.

"We didn't make the plays and I'm very disappointed at the way the whole thing went with the other stuff."

Notes: Sean Williams played 3 minutes in the fourth quarter and was twice called for goaltending after being called up from the NBA Development League on Sunday to provide depth at center after Wright's concussion. "He'll be with us until Brandan gets back, and we don't know how long that's going to be. He's done a good job in the D-League with the Frisco team and we feel like it's important to have an extra body in case we need somebody," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. ... Carlisle didn't want his team slowing the pace to combat Oklahoma City's athleticism. "One of the characteristics of our team last year when we won it was we got it up the floor quick and sometimes we didn't get a shot until the last 5 seconds but the ball kept moving and we just kept playing. This year, we're working toward being better at doing that." ... The Thunder moved to 7-1 this season following a loss.

Notebook: Thunder 95, Mavericks 91

Posted Monday March 5, 2012 11:43PM

By Randy Renner, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook hit a pair of free throws with 1.8 seconds left to ice the game and give the Thunder a thrilling 95-91 win over the Dallas Mavericks. It's the 13th straight home win for the Thunder. Westbrook led OKC with 24 points, Kevin Durant added 22 and James Harden had 16. Center Kendrick Perkins pulled down 14 rebounds.

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs with 27 points, 12 of them coming on fourth quarter 3-pointers. Jason Terry had 18 with half of those in the final frame. Oklahoma City's "Big Three" did not have good shooting nights. Durant was 6-for-18 (1-for-6 on 3-pointers) and turned the ball over seven times. Westbrook was 6-for-20 and Harden was 4-for-11 (1-for-6 on 3-pointers). The Thunder shot just 38.2 percent for the game but held Dallas scoreless (0-for-4 shooting and two turnovers) in the final 2:46 to secure the win.

QUOTABLE: "Our defense in the second half was outstanding (35 percent shooting for Dallas) we competed on both ends and gave ourselves a chance to win. You're gonna have nights when you can't shoot the ball straight (38.2 percent shooting for OKC) but you have to defend and play hard and give yourself a chance."
-- Thunder head coach Scott Brooks.

QUOTABLE II: "We gutted this one out. They threw different defenses at us but we were finally able to make some plays. We just gotta keep playing hard even when shots aren't falling."
-- Durant.

THE STAT: Oklahoma City had trouble from the field but not from the line outscoring the Mavericks by 19 points at the stripe. OKC was 29-for-33 (87.9 percent) on free throws. Dallas attempted only 10 and hit them all.

QUOTABLE III: "They go to the line 30 times and we go 10 but that's what it is on the road, we still had chances. It's tough we won the championship last year because we were the best team to execute down the stretch, getting what we want and getting stops but this year, so far, we just don't have it."
-- Nowitzki.

TURNING POINT: The Oklahoma City defense down the stretch and in particular the play of Perkins. Twice in the final seconds Perkins switched onto Terry along the baseline. He blocked one of Terry's shots and forced a miss on another.

QUOTABLE IV: "Perk was really good, he does so much for us. Terry is a right-handed player and he made him go left and forced those misses."
-- Brooks.

HOT: Thunder center Perkins was 3-for-4 in the first half...Nowitzki was 4-for-4 including four 3-pointers in the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter...Harden was 3-for-3 in the fourth quarter...Dallas was 6-for-8 on 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

NOT: The Thunder hit just three of their first 11 shots (27.3 percent) and finished the first half 16-for-39 (41 percent)...Westbrook was 2-for-8 in the first half...Harden was 1-for-6 in the first 24 minutes...Durant had five of the Thunder's six first half turnovers and was just 5-for-15 through three quarters...Nowitzki was 6-for-16 in the first 36 minutes...Terry was 3-for-10 in the fourth quarter.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Thunder assistant coach Maurice Cheeks was honored during a first quarter timeout for being a finalist for the Basketball Hall of Fame this year. He was given a standing ovation by the sellout crowd inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. Watching the game from a primo seat (next to Durant's mom) was Philip Bailey, the lead singer for the group Earth, Wind and Fire.

GOOD MOVE: When Dallas center Brendan Heywood sprained his ankle on the game's first play Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle decided to go with Ian Mahinmi who then hit five of his first six shots and led the Mavericks with 13 points at halftime.

NOTABLE: Heywood limped into the Mavericks locker room with that sprained left ankle and did not return to action. He is being listed as day-to-day...Oklahoma City is now 16-1 at home...The Mavs are in the middle of a nine games in 12 nights stretch, so far they have lost four of the first five of those games.

UP NEXT: For the Mavericks, Tuesday vs. New York, Thursday @ Phoenix, Friday @ Sacramento. For the Thunder, Wednesday vs. Phoenix, Friday vs. Cleveland, Saturday vs. Charlotte.

• Mavericks: West, Wright
• Thunder: Maynor, Sefolosha

• Mavericks: --
• Thunder: Westbrook

• Lead Changes: 10
• Times Tied: 13

• Arena: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #26 Pat Fraher, #45 Brian Forte
• Attendance: 18203
• Duration: 2:16