In the game of his Dallas Mavericks (19-43) against Oklahoma City Thunder (36-27), Dirk Nowitzki broke the 31,000 point barrier. This was only a marginal aspect of this detective story with prolongation. The Thunder finally win 111:110 (BOXSCORE) because Russell Westbrook wakes up late.
Dallas fired out of all the tubes at the beginning and scuttled the first three distance throws of the game. However, this covered a little bit that OKC played strong defense and with good rotations it made it incredibly difficult for the Mavs. After only five minutes, Nerlens Noel celebrated his comeback. The center was active, but there were big problems to catch the splitting properly. Russell Westbrook and Paul George, on the other hand, were hot at an early stage and hit their jumpers for 19 of the 32 Thunder points in the first quarter.
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For the Mavs, Dwight Powell was the best option in the offense, as he was always active and always wanted in pick-and-roll. With eight minutes remaining in the second quarter, Dirk Nowitzki then scored the next milestone. His 31,000 points came with a single-legged fadeaway from the right block. But that was the end of the Mavs glory at first. The Thunders controlled the events without really convincing. A few jump throws from Westbrook were enough to take a two-digit lead into the break.
OKC came out of the cabin very sleepy and Dallas shortened the gap quickly. After a three-way from Wesley Matthews, the hosts were back on two points, but a little later the strong Harrison Barnes equalled from downtown. So where was the Thunder Defense? Dallas scores at will thanks to a lot of movement and creative layouts. At OKC, at least PG-13 woke up again with a jumper OKC, giving the tight lead before the fourth quarter (77:76).
Things remained tight, even though the Mavs had slight advantages over the reserveists of the Thunder. In the middle of the quarter, Nowitzki netted his second threesome of the game, but Raymond Felton immediately countered. Later, both teams were unable to score for minutes until Carmelo Anthony (12.5/14 FG), after three OKC-Offensive-Rebounds Smith Jr. on his back and scorte (100:98). Powell was fouled in return, but missed both free throws one minute before the end. He made up for it, however, after Westbrook forgiven and after a wild sequence with the siren he typed the ball into the basket and forced the overtime.
This too was hard-fought again. Smith took over and was responsible for the first 8 points of the Mavs in the OT, including a threesome in Melo’s face. But then it was Russ-Time again. The MVP pulled explosively to the basket this time and finished the three-point game against Powell for 111:110. This lasted until the last ball possession for Dallas, as Barnes and Russ got offense fouls whistled. Barea moved to the basket and kicked out to Smith, who was well defended by George. The litter was clearly too long, which is why the Thunder survived.
Top scorer of the Mavs was Barnes with 26 points and Powell (21,10/13 FG, 8 Rebounds), J. J. Barea (12,7 Assists) and Smith (17,6 Dimes) appealing games. Dirk Nowitzki scored 12 points and garnished it in just under 24 minutes with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Maxi Kleber was again not used. For OKC Westbrook (30,11 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 9 Turnover) and George (23) scored best.
Mavs vs. Thunder: This way to the BOXSCORE!
Steven Adams. He saved the Thunder the evening with his dominance under the boards. The way he collected the bricks of his fellow players in spite of a bad position was worth seeing again. The fact that the Thunder were allowed to play overtime at all had a lot to do with the New Zealander, even though 9 points and 12 rebounds (9 offensively) don’t look sexy.
Wesley Matthews. Actually, except for Noel (puppy protection!) no one really fell off in a homogeneous Mavs team, but Matthews could have done a little more. He was supposed to take care of Paul George, but against the length of the Thunder star the Iron Man sometimes looked really old. In addition Matthews took again partly hasty threesomes, which he did not meet then either. A ratio of 4/14 is not too high.
The fifth man of the Thunder is a big problem after Andre Roberson’s failure. Most recently, Josh Huestis was allowed to try his hand, including against Dallas. Rick Carlilse naturally tried to take advantage of this and stationed Nowitzki in the corner. Huestis did a very solid job and scuttled two open threesomes, which put him a little ahead of Alex Abrines, another option. Billy Donovan tried again with the Spaniard in the fourth quarter, but then relied on Felton as the second playmaker and shooter alongside Westbrook.