Thunder Takes Homecourt Advantage With Game 2 Win
Nasty!
Nuggets from my notebook from Thursday’s 106-100 Game 2 win against the Dallas Mavericks.
- Russell Westbrook is fine. Relax people. I know the majority of Thunder fans know better than to make a big deal out of his fourth-quarter benching and subsequent emotional outburst. But to those that don’t, it’s nothing to be concerned about. If there was a reason to be concerned, it would be if Westbrook wasn’t ticked off about coming out of the game.
- Now, let me say this. It’s a shame that after such a great team win my first bullet point had to be about a guy who didn’t play the final 12 minutes. I guess that’s just a product of everything being magnified in the postseason and something being made out of nothing.
- With that said, great team win by the Thunder tonight. These guys never cease to amaze me. Just when you think they’re done, they find a way to hang around, fight back or regain control. OKC is now 26-6 after a loss this year. And there is no doubt in my mind that if only one thing could be carried over into next year it should be this team’s toughness.
- I feel I need to be more specific. So let’s recap the runs the Mavs made and the way the Thunder responded.
- The Thunder went down 21-11 midway through the first quarter. Tyson Chandler had just caught and converted consecutive lob passes at the rim. Mavs fans were going nuts. Three minutes later, the Thunder went down 28-17 on a Jason Terry driving layup. That capped a 17-6 run and made things look like the wheels were coming off for OK. But the Thunder just collected itself and closed the quarter on a 9-3 run. That spurt eventually grew to a 23-7 run that put the Thunder up 40-35.
- The Mavs responded with a 13-3 run to go up 48-43. OKC bounced back with a 9-4 run to tie it at 52-all.
- The Thunder went up 71-65 with 3:48 left in the third, but the Mavs seized control with an 11-2 surge to go up three with 28 seconds left in the period. James Harden then converted a four-point play to give the Thunder a 77-76 lead at the end of the quarter.
- And don’t for a second overlook how the Thunder held off the Mavs in the fourth quarter. After scoring the first basket of the period to go up four in the fourth, the Mavs got within one point five times. They never took the lead.
- Many believe the spark to that 23-7 run was Kevin Durant’s latest poster, shown above. Hard to argue there. The Thunder trailed 28-19 when KD owned Brendan Haywood. And one of those seven points for the Mavs came on a technical foul free throw Dirk Nowitzki hit. Durant was whistled for the tech after taunting Haywood following the monster jam. So the Thunder essentially allowed just six points during the run.
- Fans again met the team at the airport, this time despite Thunder and lighting and it being past 1 a.m. in Oklahoma City. After this latest show of support, I no longer can think Thunder fans aren’t the best in the league. Look for a post Friday that has more on the airport greetings.
- Also, a tip of the cap to Thunder fans who made the trip to American Airlines Center. There were so many sprinkled throughout the building you could hear cheers during Thunder runs or big plays. And in the closing seconds, a chant of “O-K-C” broke out inside American Airlines Center. Very impressive showing by the Thunder faithful.
- It’s about time the Thunder’s bench is going to get some love. Maybe this game will show the rest of the country what Thunder fans have known all season: the Thunder’s bench is one of the best in the league. Having to listen to all the talk about how great Dallas’ bench is over the past few days bordered on disgusting. And it didn’t help that the Mavs fed off that hype and talked tough like they were the best bench since the ’92 Bulls. But they were more than deserving of their praise following their performance in Game 1, when they outscored the Thunder’s reserves 53-22. But maybe the Thunder’s 50-29 advantage in bench scoring will put the league on notice once and for all. The Mavs have terrific scorers off the bench in Jason Terry, J.J. Barea and Peja Stojakovic. But there is no question the Thunder’s bench is a much more complete cast. It’s not just about scoring.
- When Harden plays the way he did tonight, attacking the rim, catching and shooting with confidence and initiating and manufacturing offense, the Thunder is hard to beat. Teams can game plan for Durant and do things to try to limit Westbrook. But when OKC has that third weapon, well, good luck.
- With 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Harden was two points, one rebound and one assist shy of leading the Thunder in points, rebounds, assists and steals. Think about that.
- After tonight, it looks like the Thunder’s best defense on Terry is Harden’s offense. Terry can’t guard Harden, and you’ve got to think that the effort he expended trying to took something out of him offensively.
- And for as good as Harden was, the thing that shocked me most was he drew a four-point play without flopping and intentionally falling on his 3-point attempt. It’s about time. (I should also say that it didn’t look like Terry even touched him on that shot.)
- Gotta go back to Westbrook. Thunder coach Scott Brooks made the right decision to play Eric Maynor the entire fourth quarter. No doubt in my mind. While the rest of the world makes a big deal about it, close followers of the Thunder know that this move was only about 20 games overdue. We know there were plenty of times that Brooks should have stuck with Maynor but didn’t (save a game against Utah) only to see the lead or team play evaporate. Brooks deserves a lot of credit for having the guts to finally do it at this point in the season.
- Westbrook didn’t play terrible. He had a few too many turnovers, his Achilles’ heel in these playoffs. But he was making good decisions for the most part and not rushing shots. I firmly believe, and Brooks said as much after the game, that Westbrook didn’t get benched so much as Maynor got rewarded.
- Having said that, Westbrook took one of the most questionable shots I’ve ever seen him take at the end of the first half. A 3-pointer off the dribble? What was that?
- Correct me if I’m wrong, but three guys have made halfcourt shots in Oklahoma City this season, right? Well, three guys made halfcourt shots during a break in tonight’s game in Dallas. Each of them won 60-inch televisions. The way the Mavs do it, though, is line up about six or seven people and have them take turns throwing up non-stop heaves for like 60 seconds. Once somebody makes it, he’s won and can sit out. It’s a clever way of doing it. But the way the Thunder does it has much more suspense and excitement whenever someone does drill it.
- As fine of a job as Maynor did running the offense in the second half, his defense on Barea in the first half was just as important. Maynor clearly took defending Barea better as a personal challenge, and what he did was play more aggressively by sticking to him and shutting off his driving lanes to the basket. Barea didn’t get anything easy. Everywhere he went, Maynor was right there. Said Maynor: “Our main focus was to go look yourself in the mirror after the (last) game. What can you do better to help our team win? And I knew I had to come in here and play the way I played defensively and offensively to help us win this game.”
- It took Brooks about 10 minutes to either figure it out or finally go to it, but when he did finally put Nick Collison at power forward and Serge Ibaka at center it changed the game. Ibaka did a much better job in man defense on Dirk, but he just isn’t a match for him. He couldn’t play him physical enough and, surprisingly, couldn’t stay in front of Nowitzki when he put it on the floor. And when Dirk blew by Ibaka, there was no help whatsoever at the rim. Kendrick Perkins wasn’t providing much weak side help at all in those instances. But putting Collison on Dirk and moving Ibaka off the ball gave the Thunder a hard-nosed on-ball defender for Dirk while plugging back in the good ol’ ‘Serge’ protector.
- The Thunder did a terrific job of defending Dirk better. They crowded him more and forced him to be a playmaker. I thought that was the key coming into Game 2. I don’t care how good of a passer Dirk has become. I guarantee you he’s a better shooter than passer, especially off the dribble. Unlike Game 1, Dirk couldn’t just sit there and jab step until he got comfortable. The defense was too close. That ample airspace from Game 1 was cut off. Another key was that weak side help finally arriving. Said Collison: “It gave us more confidence to get into him knowing that if we did get beat off the dribble we didn’t have to foul him because their was help coming.”
- Dirk had three turnovers tonight. All three came on possessions when Dirk had to make a play by either passing out of a double or driving to the basket.
- Portland forward LaMarcus Aldridge sat two rows behind me tonight. At halftime, I leaned back and asked him how he would defend Dirk. Aldridge responded: “You can’t…Not right now anyway.”
- Collison showed what he was made of when he missed two free throws that could have put the Thunder up eight with 1:19 remaining. He bounced back and sank a pair with 47.8 remaining that put the Thunder back up six.
- Um, Perk hit another 17-footer.
- KD’s dunk on Haywood was nice. But his behind-the-back dribble crossover dribble on Shawn Marion three minutes into the third was filthy, too. If KD can consistently perform escape moves like that, look out!
- Did you notice how KD was returning the physical play tonight? That’s a big development, folks. DeShawn Stevenson was trying to throw KD off his game by being rough, by grabbing and holding and jostling. Durant threw it right back. And it worked to his advantage. The refs allowed it to go on, refusing to call an offensive foul on Durant when Stevenson hit the deck after KD pushed him. It’s the type of stuff Kobe Bryant gets away with, and it’s something Durant must master to be able to fight off defenders’ physicality.
- The Mavs unleashed Jason Kidd on KD tonight. It was rather effective. Durant tried to post up the smaller Kidd a few times but didn’t have success. And when Durant tried to drive past Kidd, the future Hall of Famer would reach in with his quick hands and come up with a deflection. I doubt this is the last we’ll see of that. Keep an eye on it in Game 3.
- That’s it. I’m wiped out. Game 3 is Saturday night inside Oklahoma City Arena. I expect it to be the loudest game in Thunder history.
-DM-
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Comments
Darnell… I enjoy your stories. You are without a doubt the best writer for the Thunder.
Perk’s 17 footer surprised me and started a little run for the Thunder when it looked like the Mavs were getting back into the game. I believe the score was tied when Perk drained that.
A big part of this win was that the refs finally swallowed their whistle and allowed the game to be physical. That’s how the playoffs are supposed to be played.
[...] Darnell Mayberry: “Russell Westbrook is fine. Relax people. I know the majority of Thunder fans know better than to make a big deal out of his fourth-quarter benching and subsequent emotional outburst. But to those that don’t, it’s nothing to be concerned about. If there was a reason to be concerned, it would be if Westbrook wasn’t ticked off about coming out of the game.” [...]
You left out all the quick fouls called against the Mavericks. It was pathetic. Dirk was hit with an air foul then came down, pump faked Collison, drew contact and scored with nothing called at all. (just one example).
Good crowd at the airport last night, followed up by Darnell’s great recap. I keep wanting to ask, “Can you believe this is the same team we watched two years ago?” Then I realize it’s not. Hard(en) to believe how much this team has been re-made in such a short time.
Before Westbrook’s “benching,” ESPN’s crew was going nuts on how bad the deal for Perkins was. The low point was when they suggested a stretch four like Green could better defend Dirk. Don’t they know Dirk averaged something like 35 ppg against Jeff?
I don’t care if we did have Tyson Chandler (this year’s healthy version), if Green’s on this team right now, we’re all talking about the draft.
Thought someone would enjoy this comment: a friend of mine who is a neutral NBA fan asked me if Serge really struggled that much to stay in front of Dirk. I explained how he’s better off-the-ball and as a shot-blocker, and that he’s not great one-on-one yet.
His response: so in layman’s terms, he plays NBA Jam defense?
Yep. That’s about right.
Darnell, I look forward to reading your post game nuggets after every game. I couldn’t agree with you any more in today’s rumblings!!
[...] Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman on Scott Brooks’ move to keep Russell Westbrook on the bench in the fourth quarter of and play Eric Maynor in Game 2: Thunder coach Scott Brooks made the right [...]
Go Thunder!