With the floor spread and a defender clamped on to Kevin Durant along the wing, the Thunder went with another option in the fourth quarter to generate easy baskets – a deadly pick-and-roll between Russell Westbrook and Enes Kanter.
In seasons past, the Thunder’s most potent late-game offense came when isolating Durant or Westbrook on one side of the floor, getting Durant free on a pin down or generating drive and kick opportunities for open shooters. With the addition of Kanter, Steven Adams and an extra playmaker off the bench in Dion Waiters, the Thunder has a bevy of options on the offensive end. More importantly, however, the team has evolved on the offensive end to generate higher percentage shots.
“On the offensive end, we’re continuing to grow and run better offense and that’s resulting in our big guys getting shots at the rim,” forward Nick Collison explained. “They’re rolling and they’re being a threat at the rim which is opening up other things. So it’s good. To have two young guys like that who can score and defend and rebound, it’s good for us.”
In order to win Game 5 on Monday, the Thunder will have to be as unpredictable on offense as it was in Game 4, when six different players scored in double figures. More importantly, however, the Thunder will be crisper on the defensive end than it was on Saturday night against a Mavericks team that has Dirk Nowitzki roaming the perimeter and attacking guards in Raymond Felton and JJ Barea trying to get to the rim.
“We’ve had a little slippage defensively in terms of them shooting a better percentage,” Collison explained. “A lot of that is them making good adjustments and they’ve made adjustments to how we’ve played a couple things. It’s huge, it’s the most important thing, to be able to defend and make it hard for them to score consistently over the 48 minutes.”
“We have to be a lot better. In the second half we were pretty good, but I think the second quarter we were kind of bad on the defensive end,” Durant agreed. “We have to set a tone early on, especially in our building.”
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Battling Dirk Nowitzki
The Thunder has the opportunity to close out the Mavericks in this Round 1 series, with hopes of advancing to the Western Conference Semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs. If it can complete that objective on Monday night, there’s a chance it may be the last time the Thunder faces the Dallas Mavericks in the postseason with Dirk Nowitzki leading the team.
Over the years, the two teams along I-35 have battled one another with toughness, physicality, skill and basketball IQ, and one of the mainstays of the rivalry has been Collison contending with Nowitzki all over the floor. Nowitzki will be a Hall-of-Famer, and he and Collison’s playoff battles will be a part of the lore when fans look back on both players’ careers.
“There is definitely familiarity. We’ve played them in the Playoffs and I’ve matched up with him. Those battles for me are kind of a big deal,” Collison reminisced. “It’s kind of a cool thing. Same with Zach (Randolph) in Memphis and (Tim) Duncan in San Antonio. After playing those guys for a long time, there is, I would like to think, a mutual respect.”
Another player impacted by Nowitzki over the years has been Durant, who on multiple occasions has said that the German forward is one of his favorite NBA players of all time. Looking at how effective Nowitzki is at this stage of his career is a reminder that as Durant continues to evolve that he can find ways to adapt his game to different circumstances because of his skill level.
“37 years old still doing it the way he’s doing it, I hope so,” Durant said. “I just want to use my talent and be effective no matter how old I am. Hopefully that goes until I want to finish playing and leaving out on my terms. That’s a long ways away I hope.”
Off the court, Durant has also looked to Nowitzki as a source of inspiration. He is a perennial All-Star for the Thunder and a player who has represented the organization publicly over the years at every turn. As a result, Durant has found that looking to some of his counterparts with longstanding traditions of excellence with one team has been quite helpful.
“There’s a lot that comes with it,” Durant said of being the face of an NBA franchise. “I think Dirk has handled it about as well as anybody has handled it in this league. I’ve tried to learn from guys like him, Kobe Bryant and everybody that has been in that position, handling that situation as being the franchise guy.”
“The good thing about it here is I’m not the only guy,” continued Durant, referencing Russell Westbrook. “Having another guy with you going through it and being able to kind of relate to the same thing, it helps…The organization has been great. Russell has been more than a teammate I can ask for over these last nine years.”