DAL/OKC Game Three: Muted Thunder

Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said the Oklahoma City Thunder responded in Game Two.  He went on to say that the Mavs would have to respond to that responding in Game Three.

Respond they did.  

Dallas regained home-court advantage with a 93-87 win in Oklahoma City on Saturday night.

Dallas got out to an early lead and on more than one occasion in the second period led by 23 points.  The Thunder looked like as though they thought the game was being in Edmond and showed up late to the party.  Their offense didn’t begin to get underway until late in the third quarter. 

In addition, the highest scoring team in the playoffs this season nearly set an NBA playoff record for long-range shooting futility by going 1-17 behind the arc.

Granted, OKC mounted an impressive rally and pulled to within four in the final minute, but the hole they dug themselves was just too great.

A big key to the Game Three win for the Mavs was incredible ball movement in the first half.  Dallas just looked like they were in a different gear through the first 24 minutes and every pass went exactly where and to whom it needed to go.  Also, the experience of the Mavericks with Dirk Nowitski, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry, and the rest seemed to be a major factor as the series shifted sites.

And Marion threw his name in the hat for Best Performance by a Player in a Supporting Role with a team-high 18 points (matching Dirk’s scoring output) and was everywhere he needed to be with rebounds, deflections and steals.

The media made such a big deal about Russell Westbrook’s pine time in the fourth quarter of Game Two, but guard play wasn’t the main issue in the early going in this one.  In the first-ever conference finals game in Oklahoma City, the Thunder collectively looked tight and tense. 

As for Westbrook, he looked none the worse for wear, or the media’s overhyped beatdown.  He looked more like the Westbrook of Game Seven in the Memphis series and scored as well as distributed.

Kevin Durant, on the other hand, fell prey to the tough Dallas defense and couldn’t ever get going.

With Game Four looming on Monday, the Thunder need to spend a little more time in the shootaround to try to overcome the 36 percent performance from tonight.   The shots are going to have fall more in the first half for OKC if they are going to respond to the response of the response.