Game 2: Dallas at Oklahoma City (April 30) The game stayed close early on with both teams holding small leads, none larger than 4 points. After going scoreless in Game 1, Kendrick Perkins had 7 points in the first 3:30 of the game. A 3-point play by Russell Westbrook gave Oklahoma City a 16-13 lead with 6:20 remaining, but Dirk Nowitzki answered with consecutive jumpers to put Dallas back on top - and then Kevin Durant nailed a 3-pointer with 5 minutes remaining. A minor scuffle occurred when Nowitzki reacted to physical play (and had been poked in the eye 30 seconds earlier without a call) with a shoulder shove on Perkins and then Perkins one-hand shoved Nowitzki - the refs called time and sent everyone to the benches and then handed out the usual double-technicals (and Nowitzki subbed out as it was his usual rest time). A jumper by Vince Carter again tied the game at 19-19 with 4:50 to go and the game stayed close. 2 free throws by Ian Mahinmi put Dallas up 23-21 with 2:35 left, but Dallas struggled over the remainder of the quarter and Oklahoma made a push by closing the quarter with an 11-1 run, capped by a jumper by Derek Fisher at the quarter buzzer, to take a 32-24 lead after 1. Dallas had 2 turnovers over the last minute of the quarter (while having just 1 over the first 11 minutes). It was a tight quarter until Oklahoma City's run at the end of the quarter as there were 8 ties and 6 lead changes in the quarter. Oklahoma City shot 12-21 FG including 2-3 3-pointers and Dallas shot 9-18 FG including 1-2 3-pointers. Oklahoma City shot 6-6 FT and Dallas shot 5-6 FT. Nowitzki hit a jumper 45 seconds in to open the quarter scoring, but Oklahoma City then went on a 10-1 run to take a 42-27 lead with 7 minutes left. Jason Kidd ended the run with a 3-pointer, but Westbrook then scored the next 4 points to give Oklahoma City their largest lead at 46-30 with 5:55 to go and Dallas called timeout. Roddy Beaubois came in for the first time in the series and Dallas finally re-found their game as Dallas went on a 17-4 run, capped by a quick driving 3-point play by Nowitzki off a Thunder turnover (and all but 3 of Dallas' points during the run), to pull within 47-50 with 2:10 remaining. Oklahoma City responded by scoring the next 7 points (with 5 from Durant) and a 3-pointer by Jason Terry with 32 seconds left capped the quarter scoring. Oklahoma City led 57-50 at the half. Despite their early run in the quarter, Oklahoma City had just a slight edge in out-scoring Dallas 26-25 in the 2nd quarter. Oklahoma City shot 8-16 FG including 1-7 3-pointers and 8-8 FT (making them a perfect 14-14 in the half) and Dallas shot 9-21 FG including 2-6 3-pointers and 5-6 FT in the 2nd quarter. Westbrook had 10 points including 3-4 FG and Nowitzki had 14 points including 5-6 FG in the 2nd quarter. After going scoreless in Game 1, Fisher had 6 points in the 2nd quarter alone. Things slowed down to a crawl in the 3rd quarter as the refs had their whistles blowing freely and that resulted in a ton of trips to the line for both teams and right off the bat as Serge Ibaka was hit with 2 fouls in the first 35 seconds of the game. 2 free throws by Westbrook put Oklahoma City up 62-57 with 9:35 to go, but Dallas went on a 10-2 run (including 8 free throws as the Thunder got into the penalty with 8:50 left) to take a 67-64 lead with 6:15 remaining. But it wasn't just Dallas going to the line as Oklahoma City shot 8 free throws over the rest of the quarter. A putback dunk by Perkins and driving layup by James Harden on the break gave Oklahoma City a 70-67 lead with 4:30 left - but the game stayed close as 3 points would be the largest lead the rest of the quarter. Delonte West fed a cutting baseline Terry for an easy layup and then West stole the ball and got a one-handed dunk on the break to put Dallas back on top at 73-72 with 3:30 left. Durant was fouled with 2:35 to go, but only shot 1-2 FT - the Thunder's first missed free throw of the game (after making 22 straight) to tie the game at 73-73. A 15-foot jumper by Westbrook gave Oklahoma City a 79-77 lead with a minute left, and that would be the final score after 3 as both teams had misses and turnovers over the last minute of the quarter. Dallas out-scored Oklahoma City 27-22 in the 3rd quarter. Dallas shot 8-19 FG including 1-6 3-pointers and 10-10 FT and Oklahoma City shot 5-17 FG including 0-2 3-pointers and 12-13 FT . There were 16 fouls called in the quarter (9 on Oklahoma City and 7 on Dallas). Westbrook had 9 points. Harden drove and fed Nick Collison for the easy 2 to open the 4th quarter scoring 50 seconds in, but Ian Mahinmi hit a hook shot in the post and Kidd made a side-pass and Terry nailed a 3-pointer to put Dallas up 82-81 with 9:50 remaining. Collison picked up his 6th foul with 9 minutes left (and Mahinmi hit 1-2 FT for a 2-point Dallas lead). The game stayed close and we had another exciting one in Oklahoma City. After a layup by Nowitzki, Westbrook nailed a 3-pointer and then Oklahoma City swung the ball to an open Fisher in the corner and he nailed a 3-pointer to give Oklahoma City a 92-88 lead with 5:25 left. Kidd came back into the game and fed a cutting Nowitzki, who was fouled and got the layup. Durant hit a tough fadeaway over Kid and Terry hit an open baseliner and Oklahoma City led 94-93 with 4:35 to go. The teams traded misses and Westbrook got switched on Nowitzki and Nowitzki was called for an offensive foul when he barreled over Westbrook with 3:35 remaining. The teams traded a pair of free throws and there was 3 minutes left. Oklahoma City missed on 2 attempts and Carter hit a tough baseline banker to give Dallas a 97-96 lead with 2:20 left. Westbrook missed a jumper, but Kidd turned the ball over. Westbrook missed again (free throw jumper), but Nowitzki missed an open 3-point attempt with 1:30 to go. Shawn Marion knocked the ball away from Durant, but it was still Oklahoma City ball. The ball got knocked out of bounds with it again Oklahoma City ball, but with just 2.6 seconds left on the shot clock. The Thunder inbounded to Durant in the corner, but (groan) Terry ran into him and was called for the foul. Durant hit both free throws to give Oklahoma City a 98-97 lead with 50 seconds remaining. Nowitzki's baseline attempted bounced on the rim once, bounced twice, and then bounced off and Harden was fouled with 25.5 seconds left - he hit both free throws to give the Thunder a 3-point lead. After a timeout, Terry drove for a quick layup (with the defense pulling away at the end, to not risk a 3-point play) to pull Dallas within 99-100 with 21 seconds to go. Dallas pressed in the backcourt, but Harden got the ball into the frontcourt and was fouled. He hit both free throws with 15.6 seconds left. Dallas pushed the ball up without calling a timeout (they did have one available), but Terry missed a 3-point attempt, Carter got the rebound and passed out to Terry, but his 3-point attempt was again off and time expired. Oklahoma City won 102-99. Oklahoma City leads the series 2-0. Although not as pretty as Game 1, it was another tight and entertaining game in Oklahoma City that went down to the final buzzer - and unfortunately Dallas was again on the short end. The old saying goes that Oklahoma City simply did what they were supposed to do and held serve in winning 2 at home, but reality is that it is a real tough road for the Mavs as they have to win 4 of 5 to take the series. Hopefully the games stay entertaining (though maybe prettier with less free throws) and the Mavs holds serve in the next 2 in Dallas. After shooting a hot 54% FG in the 1st half, Oklahoma City shot just 33.3% FG in the 2nd half. For the game, Oklahoma City shot 44.8% (30-67) FG including 5-16 3-pointers. Dallas shot 41.8% (33-79) FG including just 5-23 3-pointers (and 1-9 3-pointers in the 4th quarter). As I said, a ton of free throws - Oklahoma City shot 37-39 FT as Dallas was called for 26 fouls and Dallas shot 28-32 FT as Oklahoma City was called for 28 fouls. There was a lot of isolation plays as both teams had just 13 assists (though that was lowered with the high number of trips to the line). Oklahoma City had a slight rebound edge at 37-35, but Dallas held a 12-5 offensive edge. Oklahoma City took advantage of Dallas' turnovers in scoring 21 points on 14 Mavs turnovers while Dallas scored just 16 points on 16 Thunder turnovers. Dallas did have a surprising 40-18 advantage of points in the paint. Though Oklahoma City did hold a 16 point lead during the 2nd quarter, it was a tight game at other points as there were 16 ties and 16 lead changes, including 4 ties and 6 lead changes in the 4th quarter. The good news was that the Thunder blockfest against Dallas ended as they had just 3 blocks in the game (and they had 11 in Game 1, and 13 and 7 in the two Dal@OKC regular season games). It was a more balanced attack for the Thunder than in Game 1 as they had 8 players score (where as 4 in Game 1 scored all but 5 of their 99 points). Russell Westbrook again played well with 29 points including 8-8 FT. Kevin Durant again struggled some with his shot in shooting 5-17 FG, but benefited from the whistles as he shot 14-16 FT. He had with 26 points and 10 rebounds, but also turned the ball over 7 times. He was again the only player to play 40+ minutes in the game (43 minutes). After missing his 3 attempts in Game 1, Kendrick Perkins had 13 points on 4-5 FG and 5-5 FT to go with 6 rebounds. James Harden contributed 15 points on 2-7 FG and 10-10 FT to go with 7 rebounds and 5 assists off the bench. After going scoreless in Game 1, Derek Fisher had 11 points on 5-6 FG in 24 minutes. Serge Ibaka had 2 points on 1-2 FG and 4 rebounds. Thabo Sefolosha missed his only shot in 17 foul-plagued minutes. Nick Collison fouled out early in the 4th quarter after playing 26 minutes. He had 4 points on 2-4 FG and 2 rebounds. Daequan Cook played 8 minutes and had 2 points on 1-4 FG and 0-3 3-pointers and 2 rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki was again the high man for Dallas with 31 points on 10-19 FG and 11-11 FT. He also had 6 rebounds. But instead of just having a poor 4th quarter (as in Game 1), Jason Terry struggled the whole game and had just 13 points. Shawn Marion's game is more focused on the defensive end (where he chases Durant a lot), but had nice numbers in this game with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Delonte West had 13 points. Jason Kidd again had the all-around game (but his shot was off) with 10 points including 2-10 FG and 1-6 3-pointers, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Vince Carter had just 5 points including 2-9 FG to go with 5 rebounds and 3 steals in 33 minutes. Ian Mahinmi had the best performance of the 3-head center. Mahinmi had 9 points on 3-3 FG and 3-4 FT, 5 rebounds, and 5 fouls in 18 minutes. Brendan Haywood had 2 points on 1-3 FG and no rebounds in 10 minutes. Brandan Wright had 1 point on 0-1 FG and 1-2 FT and 1 rebound in 5 minutes. Roddy Beaubois only played 5 minutes and missed his only shot and had a foul for his only stats, but he was on the court as Dallas made their comeback after being down by 16. Quotes: Scott Brooks: "That was a physical, intense, hard fought playoff basketball game. I'm proud of our guys and the way that they battled from the very start of the game and finished up playing tough, physical, defensive minded basketball. Dirk - I keep saying this, it's like a broken record - the guy is the most amazing player I've seen. His ability to make shots and drive and you can't say enough great things about him, he's just an amazing players. I thought we just stayed with it. We did a little bit better job in the 2nd half of guarding him. But I thought we hung together and we fought. When we were missing shots, when we were up 16, I thought we missed either 3 or 4 wide open 3s and they got hot and they made some shots and came out the 2nd half and it was just a fight." Brooks on the scuffle: "I saw it live, but I couldn't truthfully sit up here and say exactly what happened - I haven't watch the video. I just know that it's an intense game and that both teams are leaving everything that they have on the court. That's what you want from both teams. You want to play against the best and play well against the best. And that's what we're doing. We're playing against one of the best teams - the 7th seed has nothing to do with who they are. But it's an intense game. It's a physical game - both teams are physical. Both teams challenge you every possession. And that's what we like and that's what they like and it's going to continue to be that way." Brooks on the end of the game: "That's what Dallas does. They challenge you. Not only in their physical play because they move the ball and they challenge you in a physical way, because you have to chase, you have to fight through every screen, and you have to always stay with it. But mentally they challenge you. That's a very well-coached, experienced team. They know how to play basketball. And they've done it for a lot of years at a high level. They've been through some tough times and they finally broke through and won last year. But mentally, they challenge you. They seem to always make the extra pass, they've been together. They know all the offensive wrinkles that you have to create for yourself. They're a good team. We just have to fight through everything they throw at us. And I thought that both teams did that tonight." Brooks: "The last shot, I though Thabo [Sefolosha] did a good job of contesting. They got the offensive rebound and we did another good job of contesting. We got lucky when - I think it was the play or 2nd play before that - Dirk had a wide open 3 that I think that would have put them up 4 with about 50 seconds. They run great plays and you know Thabo did a good job of challenge. But I thought our free throws were huge. Perk made 2 free throws that were very critical. And James' free throws at the end and Kevin's free throws, we made them - they stepped up there in a very intense situation and made them." Brooks on Westbrook: "There's no question that Russell has developed from the day we drafted him through his hard work and effort and commitment that he puts in to the team. We're seeing it in front of our eyes. He's 4 years in this league, a 2-time All-Star, is only 23-years-old. He's still going to challenge himself to get better. He and the rest of the guys, they're not mistake free. They all make mistakes, but Russell's mistakes are always with a pure heart. He plays with his emotions, with a lot of passion and enthusiasm. But he's improved a lot. He's improved a lot and I talk to him constantly and he knows that he has to keep getting better. He's not a finished product." Brooks: "Dallas is a good defensive team. They throw a lot of different things at you. They throw a man-to-man, they play their zone, and there are sometimes that you're not sure what they're in and they kind of confuse you that way. But we don't look at it like a mismatch at all, we just look at it as our team vs their team. We have to figure out a way to score more than they do." Brooks on Fisher: "He made big shots. It's nice for him to make shots. The thing I love about Derek is that he brings professionalism - that guy is a class act and we're all thrilled to have him on our team, in our lockerroom. You know he's going to make shots." Kevin Durant: "I think we did a great job of helping each other out. They have great scorers over there, but I think we played well on the defensive end to finish the game off and we got stops when we needed it." Durant on Fisher: "DFish did a great job of giving us that spark off the bench, knocking down shots, playing tremendous defense, and just playing hard. That is what we expect from him every single night. As far as my shooting, I missed some shots that of course I would love to make, but I have faith in myself, I have faith in my hard work, and I am always going to stay positive. I going to continue to work hard like I always do and hopefully I'll knock some down." Durant: "We knew these guys were going to play physical, we're a physical team as well. The refs are doing a great job of letting us play. So we just got to continue to take that punch from them and do a great job of sticking together. Games like this in the playoffs are going to get chippy, and we know that so we just got to play through it." Russell Westbrook: "Defensively, I think we did a good job of getting stops when we needed to get stops. And we hit some big free throws towards the end." Westbrook on Durant: "He's a scorer, he's a pure scorer. He's the best scorer in the league. And he's been doing it for us all season long, and he's going to continue to do it for us." Westbrook on the win: "It was big. A lot of guys stepped up tonight, especially on the defensive end and getting tough rebounds, getting loose balls, and different things throughout the game And that is what the playoffs are about - toughness." Westbrook: "My job is to stay aggressive and to try to find a way to help my team find a way to win, get other guys involved, and just try to win." Westbrook on defending Terry in the 4th: "We're keying [on him] a lot. He's a big-time scorer, especially in the closing minutes. And our job is to continue to touch him, to continue to put hands on him, and to continue to frustrate him - and that's what my job is to do." James Harden: "It's going to be a good series. Teams are going to go on runs. Obviously they have been here last year so they know what it takes. We've made it pretty far, so we know what it takes. It's going to be a battle." Harden: "Well they are a great team. We knew they were going to make a run obviously. We turned the ball over and gave up some easy shots and they made their run. So we just controlled ourselves and stayed humble and did what we were supposed to do." Nick Collison: "It wasn't pretty, but for us to get wins like that is big. Dallas is really good and they make you pay for mistakes - they definitely did tonight. We're just happy to get a win. We'd like to play better. We'd like our offense to get better down the stretch. Those are things we're just going to have to keep working at and keep trying to defense and make their scores tough." Rick Carlisle on the loss: "We just haven't made enough plays. It's tough, there's no question about it. We've had opportunities and we haven't cashed in and they've made one more play than we have in both games and that's how playoff basketball is. As my good friend Ron Washington [Texas Rangers coach] would say, 'That's how baseball go sometimes.' You have to give them credit for what they're doing. And we can't dig ourselves into a 16-point hole in the 1st half that's something that's tough. I loved the way we fought back and it was great. The guys hung in and kept their poise, all that. Hey look, they held serve and we have to go home and hold serve." Carlisle on Terry's foul on Durant near the end of the game: "I looked at the film, it would be up for debate I guess. I only saw one angle of it. It's a tough play. He [Terry] was trying to make a play on the ball and Durant sold it. He did a good job of selling it. So he went to the free throw line that's a tough play. That's a tough play. That's all I can say." Carlisle on the scuffle: "Look, it's playoff basketball - it's physical. We don't like the cheap shots when they give them and they don't like them if we give them. And that's the nature of competition. Hey, I love hard play, clean competitive playoff series, and you throw the ball up and may the best team win. But the dirty [bs] has got to stop. And we don't want anybody getting hurt out there - either way, either way." Carlisle on defending Westbrook: "He's playing great. He's playing great. We started off the game double-teaming him. He split us and broke us down and got to the rim and took us out of that. It has been tough. He's been hitting shots. We have done a decent job about keeping him out of the paint, but he's stroking it. We're going to have to go back to the drawing board and cook something else up. But, look, it's 2 games they did what they're supposed to do and now we have to do what we're supposed to do." Carlisle on not starting Haywood in the 2nd half and playing small ball at times: "Adjusting. Adjusting to the series. Adjusting to the level of quickness, energy. And, look, it's not to say that Haywood's not going to be starting Game 3, but for this game, it felt like that was the way to go." Carlisle: "We come away from these 2 games disappointed, but not dismayed. You tip your hat to the fact that they made some big plays. And now we got to go home and do the same." Dirk Nowitzki on the scuffle with Perkins: "Well it's just two teams playing hard. I think they really came at early and we had to respond physically. That's really it. I think the play was nothing. He tried to bully me and I bullied back a little bit and we talked about some stuff and moved on. I don't think that play was anything special, it was just a playoff two teams going at it and it was just a hard play." Nowitzki on losing 2 close games: "It's tough. I mean all really 4 games we've had here - 2 in the regular season and 2 in playoffs - we were right there. Really just a couple of bounces away from being up 2-0. So it's tough, it's frustrating - but, you know, we're going to keep coming. We aren't going to lay down. If they beat us, we're going to make them earn it, we're going to keep coming. We got enough warriors over there that we're going to come back on Thursday and respond, like we did when were down 16. We kept battling back, kept making plays. So we're not going to give it to them, they've got to take it." Nowitzki on Mahinmi: "I thought actually Ian played a great game for us tonight. He finished in the paint some and was a factor on the defensive end." Nowitzki: "I think really today, that 3-ball I had in the corner [near the end of the game], that's game time. If we go up 4 I think the game's over. I had a good look. And the other one, the fade-away that I shot, I made it a 100 times. It just bounced, it hit every part of the rim, and bounced off. That's kind of the way our season has been going. They get that bounce last game, we don't get it. So that's frustrating. But going to keep coming and compete the same way - I think we played our butts off. After that little 16-point deficit we had, we competed as well as we have all season. And if we do that on Thursday, I think that we'll be in position to do that again and we'll see what happens." Jason Terry: "Just look at the final score - it was 1 possession game. It is going to be like this the whole series. We will go home and see what happens. Every game is going to be tough." Terry: "We just have to close out better. We are putting ourselves in position, but we are just not sealing the deal. Give them credit - they are getting the stops. We just need to do better at closing out games." Terry on what was said when they went down by 16 points: "Nothing. We just kept playing. This is playoff basketball, no lead is safe. Again, we did a good job at fighting back, but we are going back home and again we will see what happens." Shawn Marion on the end of games: "There's some interesting things going on out there. It's just tight, serious. It's going down to the last possession. Unfortunately for us, we didn't catch a break. I thought it was in our hands again, but unfortunately things didn't happen on the floor. It is what it is." Marion on Westbrook: "He's taking the challenge to try to line up and go directly at people's head. He's knocking down that 15-, 16-footer consistently. It's hard to stop because he's so athletic and his 2nd boost is like, it's hard to guard." Marion on the losses: "It's probably a little bit of frustration, but more pissed off. I mean, we was right there. It's frustrating to know that we should have had these 2 games. We should be going back 2-0 our way. A couple of bounces here and there and these're our games." 2012 NBA Playoffs - First Round Game 2: Oklahoma City Thunder 102, Dallas Mavericks 99 at Oklahoma City (April 30) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Oklahoma City 32 25 22 23 - 102 .490 .313 .448 .949 Dallas 24 26 27 22 - 99 .500 .217 .418 .875 Halftime: Oklahoma City 57-50 3rd Q: Oklahoma City 79-77 Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 5:05 1st, Kendrick Perkins 5:05 1st Refs: James Capers, Zach Zarba, Ken Mauer Attendance: 18,203 (sellout) IL: Oklahoma City - Reggie Jackson, Eric Maynor Dallas - Dominique Jones, Lamar Odom Oklahoma City Thunder REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kevin Durant 43 5-17 2-6 14-16 26 0-10 1 7 3 2 0 Serge Ibaka 22 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-4 1 2 4 0 1 Kendrick Perkins 27 4-5 0-0 5-5 13 3-6 0 2 4 0 1 Thabo Sefolosha 17 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 2 0 4 1 0 Russell Westbrook 39 10-21 1-2 8-8 29 0-2 2 2 2 0 0 James Harden 34 2-7 1-3 10-10 15 0-7 5 1 2 3 0 Nick Collison 26 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-2 1 1 6 1 1 Derek Fisher 24 5-6 1-2 0-0 11 0-3 0 1 3 1 0 Daequan Cook 8 1-4 0-3 0-0 2 0-2 1 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 30-67 5-16 37-39 102 5-37 13 16 28 9 3 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shawn Marion 39 5-9 1-4 4-4 15 4-8 1 2 5 0 1 Dirk Nowitzki 38 10-19 0-2 11-11 31 0-6 1 3 3 1 0 Brendan Haywood 10 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 1 Delonte West 24 5-12 1-3 2-2 13 1-3 2 1 1 2 0 Jason Kidd 37 2-10 1-6 5-5 10 2-6 7 3 2 3 0 Ian Mahinmi 18 3-3 0-0 3-4 9 3-5 0 0 5 0 0 Jason Terry 30 5-12 2-6 1-2 13 0-1 1 2 4 0 0 Vince Carter 33 2-9 0-2 1-2 5 2-5 1 1 4 3 1 Brandan Wright 5 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Rodrigue Beaubois 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 33-79 5-23 28-32 99 12-35 13 14 26 9 3 patricia Go Mavs! ---- Patricia Bender pbender@eskimo.com For Trianglons puzzles: http://www.trianglons.com For NBA stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/index.html For Mavs stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html