Game 3: Oklahoma City at Dallas (May 3) Oklahoma City jumped out to an early 9-2 lead capped by a 3-pointer by Kevin Durant with 9:30 to go, as Dallas missed their first 3 shots of the game (and their 4th counted on a goaltend by Kendrick Perkins). A free throw and putback dunk by Brendan Haywood pulled Dallas within 5-9 with 8:35 left. The teams traded jumpers and Oklahoma City scored the next 5 points, capped by a nice feed from Durant to Serge Ibaka for an easy 2, to again put Oklahoma City up by 9 at 16-7 with 7 minutes remaining. A nice play of Delonte West to Jason Kidd back to West for the short baseline drive and layup pulled Dallas within 11-18 with 5:15 to go. Neither team scored over the next minute. The refs didn't call a charge on Durant with Vince Carter fully set led to an angry Rick Carlisle getting a technical for his angry reaction. A free throw jumper by Russell Westbrook capped 5 consecutive Oklahoma City points and, after Ian Mahinmi hit an 18-foot late in the shot clock, a 3-pointer by Durant gave Oklahoma City their largest lead at 22-13 with 2:15 left. Jason Terry answered with a 3-pointer and Carter hit 2 free throws and had a driving one-hand dunk (with a nice screen by Mahinmi) to pull Dallas within 20-28 with 1:05 to go. Westbrook fed Ibaka for 2, Kidd nailed a quick 3-pointers, James Harden was fouled driving and hit 2 free throws, and a corner 3-pointer by Carter led to an entertaining end of the quarter. Oklahoma City led 32-26 after 1. Oklahoma City shot 11-23 FG including 3-8 3-pointers and 7-8 FT. Dallas shot 10-22 FG including 3-4 3-pointers and 3-4 FT. Durant had 15 points including 5-7 FG and 3-4 3-pointers - he, Westbrook, and Kidd played all 12 minutes in the quarter and Nowitzki (who normally takes a break in the 1st quarter) played all but 30 seconds of the quarter. It was an ugly opening to the 2nd quarter as each team scored just 2 points over the first 4 minutes of the quarter - Oklahoma City shot 1-9 FG and Dallas shot 0-7 FG (and hit 2 free throws). A putback by Ibaka and layup by Durant gave Oklahoma City a 38-28 lead with 6:50 left. A layup by Kidd pulled Dallas within 33-40 with 5:25 to go, but Oklahoma City scored the next 8 points, capped by a corner 3-pointer by Derek Fisher and a side-step 3-pointer by Westbrook (and doing a finger-holster afterwards), to give Oklahoma City a 48-33 lead with 3:50 remaining. Dallas did closed the quarter with an 8-2 run as Oklahoma City shot 1-6 FG over the last 3:30 of the quarter. Oklahoma City led 50-41 at the half. It was an ugly quarter as Oklahoma City shot just 8-23 FG including 2-9 3-pointers and Dallas shot 4-16 FG including 1-8 3-pointers as Oklahoma City out-scored Dallas 18-15 in the 2nd quarter. Dallas shot 6-8 FT while Oklahoma City surprisingly did not get to the line once. Dallas had 6 turnovers in the quarter (but Oklahoma City scored just 5 points on them). Mahinmi started the 3rd quarter in place of Brendan Haywood and Mahinmi opened the 3rd quarter with a drive and dunk and, after Thabo Sefolosha missed, Kidd made a push and got a quick layup to pull Dallas within 45-50 with 11:10 left. But Oklahoma City then went on a 16-5 run, capped again by duel 3-pointers (one by Westbrook as Terry went under a screen and Durant kicking out to Sefolosha (for his first points of the game)) to again match their largest lead of 16 points at 66-50 with 5:55 to go as Dallas shot just 1-10 FG (and had 3 free throws) during the run. Dallas went without a center, but it didn't have much of an effect as the Thunder's lead remained in double-digits. Oklahoma City led 70-57 with 3:25 remaining and both teams went scoreless over the next 2 minutes. Harden dished out to an open Daequan Cook for a 3-pointer with a minute left and Fisher drove for a layup with 34 seconds left (while Dallas missed 2 shots and had 2 turnovers over the last 2 minutes of the quarter) to give Oklahoma City their largest lead of 75-57 after 3. Oklahoma City out-scored Dallas 25-16 in the 3rd quarter. After the poor 2nd quarter, the Thunder re-found their shooting touch in 3rd quarter in shooting 11-22 FG including 3-5 3-pointers while Dallas continued to struggle in shooting 4-18 FG including 1-6 3-pointers. The refs again weren't friendly to the Thunder as they only went to the line once (and missed, on a technical on West) in the quarter while Dallas shot 7-7 FT. Westbrook had 11 points on 5-7 FG (including a finger-holster 3-pointer) in the 3rd. Durant, Nowitzki, and Shawn Marion played all 12 minutes. Dallas continued to go with small-ball and it continued not to work. Instead of Dallas making a push to get back in the game, Oklahoma City kept pouring it on. Durant dished to an open Fisher in the corner for a 3-pointer to open the 4th quarter a mere 20 seconds in to give the Thunder their first 20 point lead. And after Nowitzki hit 1-2 FT, Harden dished to an open Cook for a 3-pointer to give Oklahoma City an 81-58 lead with 11:10 remaining. The blowout continued as another 3-pointer by Cook gave the Thunder their largest lead at 86-60 with 10:10 left and Oklahoma City kept their lead in the 20s. The plug was finally pulled with 4:55 left - the subs were waiting to come in at the next deadball, but Durant nailed a 3-pointer to give Oklahoma City a 95-69 lead and Dallas used a timeout to get the stars off the court. The Dallas scrubs did score the last 10 points of the quarter to make the final score not quite as lopsided (though still bad). Oklahoma City won 95-79. Oklahoma City holds a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. It was an ugly performance by Dallas and a fairly good one by Oklahoma City. The result is that Dallas is in a situation _no_ team has ever recovered from (no team has ever come back from down 0-3 to win a series), but the Mavs simply have to focus on Game 4 to just stay alive and not even think about future games. The 3-ball killed Dallas in this game. Dallas shot just 1-15 3-pointers in the 2nd, 3rd, and including another miss 5 minutes into the 4th as the Thunder built up a 20+ point lead - they shot 3-4 3-pointers in the 1st quarter and the scrubs shot 2-3 3-pointers in the closing of the game. While Oklahoma City shot 9-12 3-pointers over a 22 minutes span (5 minutes left in 2nd quarter to 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter - including 4-4 3-pointers over that portion of the 4th quarter). Dallas went on a stretch in the 3rd and 4th quarters where they played without a center on the court. It didn't work as Durant or Westbrook or Harden would attack the basket and 2 or 3 Mavs would collapse on the driver (knowing that there was no center in the back to help out) and then the driver would kick it out to an open 3-point shooter, and the 3-ball was falling for the Thunder. For the game, Oklahoma City shot 42.4% (36-85) FG including 12-28 3-pointers and Dallas shot 34.2% (26-76) FG including 7-22 3-pointers. Oklahoma City shot 11-17 FT and Dallas shot 20-26 FT. Dallas held a slight rebound edge at 46-45 and both teams had 9 offensive rebounds. Oklahoma City had 18 assists (and 11 of them came during their 22 minute 3-pointer push) and Dallas had 15 assists. Dallas had 16 turnovers, though Oklahoma City scored just 7 points on them. Oklahoma City had just 8 turnovers and Dallas had 10 points on them. Dallas never led in the game. So it is back to the drawing board for the Mavs and hopefully they'll come up with a much better game on Saturday. The Thunder had 5 players in double-digit scoring (and another with 9 points). Kevin Durant found his shooting touch after struggling in the first 2 games. He did most of his scoring damage early with 15 points in the 1st quarter and then 3 of his 6 assists resulted in 3-pointers as Oklahoma City pushed their lead into the 20s. Durant finished with 31 points including 11-15 FG and 4-6 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, and 6 assists in 40 minutes. Russell Westbrook continued to play well and had 20 point, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Serge Ibaka had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds and also had 4 blocks. James Harden only shot 3-10 FG as part of his 10 points, but also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists (with 3 of them resulting in 3-pointers), and 3 steals in 26 minutes. Derek Fisher had 10 points in 25 minutes. Daequan Cook hit 3 3-pointers for 9 points in 11 minutes. Kendrick Perkins had 2 points on 1-4 FG and 9 rebounds and Thabo Sefolosha had 3 points on 1-6 FG, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in 17 minutes. Nick Collison missed his only shot and had 3 rebounds and 3 fouls in 13 minutes. Nazr Mohammed, Royal Ivey, Lazar Hayward, and Cole Aldrich got in for the last 5 minutes of the game, but none scored. No Mav had a good game and only 3 scored in double-digits. Dirk Nowitzki was the high man with just 17 points on 6-15 FG and 5-8 FT - you know it's a bad night when Dirk misses 3 free throws. He also had 9 rebounds in 39 minutes. Shawn Marion had just 6 points on 1-8 FG and 4-4 FT, but did have a team high 10 rebounds. Jason Kidd didn't pass up too many shots this game, but unfortunately they were not falling. He had 12 points including 4-12 FG and 2-6 3-pointers (and his 2 other makes were surprising driving layups [he normally passes when he drives]). He also had 5 rebounds and 4 assists in 34 minutes. Jason Terry had just 11 points including 3-10 FG to go with 3 rebounds and 6 assists. Delonte West had 9 points and Vince Carter had 7 points including 2-8 FG. The center position continues to be a problem (with Ian Mahinmi continuing to give the best performance and Brandan Wright continuing to be MIA) - so much of a problem that Dallas went a good stretch of the game without a center on the court. Starter Brendan Haywood only played 7 minutes (coach's decision) and had 3 points including 1-4 FG and 2 rebounds. Mahinmi had 4 points on 2-3 FG and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes. Wright had 2 points and 3 rebounds in 8 minutes (including the 5 minutes of garbage time). Roddy Beaubois was in for only 2 minutes of non-garbage time (missed his only shot for his only stat) and all 5 minutes of garbage time where he had a rebound and 2 assists. Brian Cardinal 8 minutes in the 4th quarter (starting the quarter) and had 3 points and 3 rebounds. Kelenna Azubuike and Yi Jianlian played 5 minutes at the end of the game. Azubuike had 3 points and a rebound and Yi had 2 points (a driving dunk) and 2 rebounds. Quotes Scott Brooks: "I thought that defensively we did probably about as well as we could possibly do against a very good offensive team that really moves that basketball very well. But our defense was good, our rebounding was pretty good - we only gave up 9 offensive rebounds. And our offense kept moving that basketball and finding open shooters, which was very important going into this game. And then low turnovers - turnovers have been an issue all year, but it was nice to have a turnover game under 10. But, I thought defensively was the key to the game." Brooks on Durant's strong start: "Well, yes, Kevin hasn't shot the ball well, but he's taken good shots, he hasn't forced shots, and he got to the free throw last game. But, it was good to have a good start. He's earned that; he works as hard as anybody that I've ever been around, and you knew he was going to have a good shooting game sooner or later. He's diligent in his work; he's so consistent. It's incredible to see. Everyday he's the same. He brings in work, brings in effort, and he does the same things. But, it was good to see him have a good shooting game. He gave us a good start." Brooks: "We just play. We just play hard basketball. We play as hard as we can and we live with the results. We don't get caught up in things we can't control. We know that they have the heart of a champion. But we just play. Our guys play hard and they try to get better every possession. And it's all these things that we talk about in practice, film sessions, huddles, time outs, and it doesn't matter. We just talk about doing what we have to do as a team to get better. We can't control the other things. We just control what we do." Brooks: "It was important that we did that at the start of the game. That's something that we always talk about, just playing tough basketball, being mentally tough. We knew going in the game that this a great building, this is one of the best buildings in the league. The fans are incredible, they bring it every night. And they have a good team. But we just wanted to focus on being solid, keeping it simple, hit singles and not home runs - and I thought we did that tonight. That's important. Sometimes we get a little excited - and they should, they're very excitable. But when we talk about playing our basketball and improving every day, we have to think simple. Sometimes it's challenging to coach simple with our guys, but it's important that we focus on that." Brooks on keeping his team focused for Game 4: "Well, you have to win 4. It's a simple as that. It's not over until you win 4. And our approach is to just play every game, play every game like it's the most important - we've done that all year and we're going to continue to do that. We understand that this team has championship experience, they have pride, and they're not going to give you anything. You've got to earn it. And we earned it tonight. We played a good basketball game. We made shots when we needed it to and we played great defense throughout the game. Going into the next game, we're just focused on playing the same way. Playing with focus and energy and together and for each other." Kevin Durant: "We treated it like a Game 7 as well. We knew these guys were tough here, in their building. They have so many great players. But we just wanted to come out with a sense of urgency on both ends. And we did a great job." Durant on his shooting: "Finally I was able to make a few. My teammates did a great job of encouraging me these last 2 days and finding me on the open shots today in the game. And luckily I made them." Durant on the defense: "We scrambled all night. Did a great job tonight to help each other out and forced them into some tough shots. We know those guys, they fight hard all game - and that's what they did and I'm glad that we withstood some of the punches that they threw at us early to the start of the 3rd quarter and we played though it. So our defense was good and we moved the basketball on the offensive end." Russell Westbrook on being up 3-0: "We're a tough team, especially on the road. And we did a great job of coming here tonight and taking care of business." Westbrook on if it was the most complete OKC game in a while: "Probably, especially on the road. Man, this is a big stage and a big win for us and hopefully we can do the same thing on Saturday." Westbrook: "I think this might have been one of the best of the year, especially on the road and the type of game that it is. Everybody did a great job of making the extra pass - you know, coach emphasized that in watching the film this morning and yesterday of making the extra pass, and we did that tonight." James Harden: "Just a great, total defensive effort tonight. I think from the beginning, we held them to no easy baskets, no easy points. Frustrated them, and did a great job of keeping our intensity up throughout the game." Harden on Fisher: "Big shots, leadership - he does it all. He still can play at his age, but he has done a great job, when we get up by a certain amount of points, to keep our composure. He's done a great job in the huddles and talking to us. He's definitely meant a lot to us." Harden: "This was a Game 7 for us. We needed it, it was a must-win for us, and we came out with that intensity. Same thing for next game as well. They're the defending champions and they're just not going to lay down. We got to come out from the beginning." Harden: "Our defense started it off from the beginning. Kevin got hot - 15 points in the 1st quarter. Just everything was moving and everybody was on the same page tonight. If we play like that, it's hard to beat us." Harden on Game 4: "They're the defending champions, so they know how to win. We can't lay down just because were up 3-0. We got to come out and just do what we do - play Thunder basketball - and we'll be fine." Rick Carlisle on problems with the refs: "There was some distraction there. Look, there's been some frustration with the officials, but we're not going to make it about the officials. It's a long game, and I thought we came out of that well and got it to 6 at the end of the 1st. And then in the 2nd quarter we were 4-16 with 6 turnovers and that really hurt us. So, we never really recovered from it. Our 3rd quarter was up and a good start and then they came back at us and hit shots and made plays. It's just a tough game. And so, you know, it's rough. They're a good team, they threw a great game at us, and we needed to be a lot better than we were." Carlisle: "We got off to a good start in the 3rd and they answered. We're competing pretty good. Our mistakes we weren't able to overcome. Look, their high level play we weren't able to overcome either. It's really tough, really tough to go down 0-3. But we're going to keep fighting. I thought even though we played bad, I thought we competed well - that's hard to say when it's in the 20s. Until I look at the film and see otherwise, I like the way were battling. We've just had some bad shooting nights and some horrible decision making. And frankly, I take a lot of the responsibility is on me - I didn't have these guys ready to play." Carlisle on what Durant did: "Jumping over us and hitting shots. Look, he's a great player, he's the best scorer on the planet. Marion did a phenomenal job for 2 games. And then tonight Durant picked his level up a little bit and he was making some of those contested shots. He was 11-15, that's a phenomenal shooting night in a game where they're spreading the ball around quite a bit. And, look, his high level play and the other guys, the role players, were hitting 3's. We didn't match we shot 31% and they shot 42.9% from 3. And it's hard to overcome that." Carlisle on Terry's and Nowitzki's struggles: "Some of it was at times we got down and got a little frantic to try and make things happen. That led to some mistakes. I've got to do a better job at helping those guys. That's something that I really take responsibility for. I mean, and we haven't had a good shooting game yet in this series, you know, the kind that we're capable of. That's frustrating. But we're going to go back and look at the film. We're going to look at the things we've got to do better, and we're going to be back out there Saturday night battling." Carlisle on Marion's shooting: "Ibaka had 4 blocked shots, he's a presence in there, they had 7 [blocks] for the game. Look, they have a presence at the rim that's effective. But, again, I can't fault Marion's effort. The guy's chasing Durant around like crazy the entire game. He some decent looks and then a couple of times he got put in the position where he had to make something happen and it's a low percentage situation for any player. So, look, our effort is going to be there. We're going to keep fighting and, you know, we'll be back at it on Saturday." Carlisle: "Look, we're disappointed, but we're going to keep playing. We're going to keep playing. I mean, at this point, we've got a group that's been through really literally everything that you can go through in an NBA life. We've got guys that have been playing in this league for over 15 years. I mean, it's tough, it's tough losing. Especially when you've been a World Champion in the past calendar year. It's tough, but we've got another game at home to earn the right to go back on the road. And I'll make sure that we're focus on the game at home on Saturday. And we're all going to have to do a better job." Dirk Nowitzki [first tossing the displayed Gatorade stuff off the table]: "You know, our goal was to come out swinging, create energy and get the building going. And we just couldn't get anything going offensively. I think we started out 0-6, 0-8. And just wasn't the way we really wanted to start off the game. But you got to give them credit. They threw a heck of a game at us. I thought we played 2 really solid games up in OKC, but didn't find a way to steal one. Tonight just picked a bad time to really put a stinker out there. No one really had a good game out there for us. They took it to us on the other end, everybody made shots. But we just picked a tough time to really get nothing going on the offensive end." Nowitzki: "We got to win _a_ game. If you're down 0-3, you never focus on winning 4 straight. You got to show some pride on Saturday. Just play a better game. Move the ball, make some shots. I think we had some looks, but if you shoot 34% on your own home floor, it's going to be tough to win. So hopefully on Saturday we're going to put some fight out there and make some plays and go from there. Like I said, you got to win _a_ game and win that game and go from there." Nowitzki: "This disappointing thing was that even with as bad as we played, we were within 5 points there in the 3rd. And from there is just went haywire. So very disappointing that coming out of the half we had some decent looks and were only down 5 and couldn't get nothing going." Nowitzki: "We tried, but you've got to give them credit. Every time we made a little push, they made shots. If it was Fisher coming in or whoever they threw out there - Cook made some tough 3s when we were closing out. You know, Westbrook has been playing great all series. Durant picked a good time to have a great game." Shawn Marion on if he's been through this before: "Maybe, I guess you have. When every thing you think can go right go wrong. I just think that we had some good looks and they just didn't go down. And that was frustrating. When that happens, everything else just seems like it can happen to you. It did. It was very frustrating to be out there and try to play hard and complete and stuff and it seems like it's a little basket." Marion on Durant: "He had a good game tonight. I got to give him credit. But it's frustrating to see him tonight, but at the same time it's more frustrating to see that we couldn't catch a break tonight." Marion: "Everything, everything was out of sync. Both ends of the floor. Like I said, if everything is going to go against you, went against you tonight. It seemed like we never had a chance." Vince Carter: "I mean, they came out firing. They hit us first, at home in a game that we needed we have to hit first and, you know, the rest is history." Carter on the run at the end of the 1st quarter: "Yeah, I mean the 2nd unit got in there and we just tried to play a little faster, attack the rim, and just try to get something going. They weathered the storm and they hit back. We didn't do a great job of really containing them." Carter on what needs to be done: "Win the next game. Plain and simple. There is no rhythm or reason, we just have to win the next game or it's over. There is no sense in trying to dress it up, make it any more difficult than what it really is. Win the next game or it's over." Carter: "We just weren't making shots. They did a great job of limiting us to one shot and they were getting out in transition and hitting shots. They really put it to us in the 2nd half, they were hitting shots and making plays and we weren't." 2012 NBA Playoffs - First Round Game 3: Oklahoma City Thunder 95, Dallas Mavericks 79 at Dallas (May 3) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Oklahoma City 32 18 25 29 - 95 .421 .429 .424 .647 Dallas 26 15 16 22 - 79 .352 .318 .342 .769 Halftime: Oklahoma City 50-41 3rd Q: Oklahoma City 75-57 Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 7:20 1st, Rick Carlisle 4:01 1st, Delonte West 1:49 3rd, Brian Cardinal 10:30 4th, Kevin Durant (OKC) 10:30 4th Refs: David Jones, Greg Willard, Marc Davis Attendance: 20,640 (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 40 11-15 4-6 5-7 31 0-3 6 1 3 2 1 Serge Ibaka 27 5-8 0-1 0-0 10 4-11 0 0 4 1 4 Kendrick Perkins 29 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 2-9 0 0 1 0 1 Thabo Sefolosha 17 1-6 1-3 0-0 3 0-3 3 0 1 0 1 Russell Westbrook 32 8-19 2-5 2-4 20 0-4 4 3 3 3 0 Nick Collison 13 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2-3 1 1 3 0 0 James Harden 26 3-10 0-2 4-6 10 0-4 4 1 4 3 0 Derek Fisher 25 4-9 2-4 0-0 10 0-1 0 1 0 1 0 Daequan Cook 11 3-7 3-6 0-0 9 0-2 0 0 0 1 0 Nazr Mohammed 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Royal Ivey 5 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Lazar Hayward 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Cole Aldrich 5 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1-3 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 36-85 12-28 11-17 95 9-45 18 8 20 11 7 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shawn Marion 34 1-8 0-3 4-4 6 3-10 2 3 2 1 2 Dirk Nowitzki 39 6-15 0-1 5-8 17 1-9 0 0 1 0 0 Brendan Haywood 7 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 1-2 0 1 1 0 0 Delonte West 19 3-5 0-0 3-3 9 0-2 1 1 1 0 0 Jason Kidd 34 4-12 2-6 2-2 12 0-5 4 2 2 1 0 Jason Terry 31 3-10 2-5 3-4 11 0-3 6 4 3 1 0 Ian Mahinmi 16 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 2-4 0 0 2 0 0 Vince Carter 27 2-8 1-3 2-2 7 0-2 0 2 4 0 1 Brandan Wright 9 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 0 0 0 1 1 Rodrigue Beaubois 7 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 2 1 0 0 0 Brian Cardinal 8 1-2 1-1 0-0 3 0-3 0 0 0 0 0 Kelenna Azubuike 5 1-3 1-1 0-0 3 1-1 0 1 0 1 0 Yi Jianlian 5 1-3 0-1 0-1 2 0-2 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 26-76 7-22 20-26 79 9-46 15 16 16 6 4 Go Mavs! patricia ---- 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