A guide for Oklahoma City Thunder: Five Ways to stop the Dallas Mavericks in game-2 (Part 2)
Step 3: Get rid of the Grizzlies Hangover
One factor that definitely resulted in OKC’s downfall on Monday night was the style of play that they encountered against the Dallas Mavericks, two nights after coming from a series against the Memphis Grizzlies. After defeating
the Grizzlies in a tough seven game series, the Thunder were not ready for a jump shot galore by the Mavs. The different approach of Dallas had them flustered.
In the series against Memphis, OKC had to defend down-low against the power of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. However, now they face the shooting prowess of Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, Jose Barea, Jason Kidd, and Jason Kidd.
All of them have the ability to make the three-point shots on a regular basis and OKC need to realize this.
The head coach of the OKC, Scott Brooks, will have to get his players tuned to the shooting show, which they will experience once again on Thursday and they will not only have to play Mavs but think Mavs as well.
Step 4: OKC must hold back J.J. Barea
J.J. Barea, the smallest Maverick, is flying high in the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs. Standing at just 5ft-10in and in a team of giants, Barea came off the bench with 21 points in game-1. The 26 year old point
guard was able to drive the lane with relative ease. And also had a good accuracy from long range, which proved detrimental for the Thunder. In order to level the series before moving on to home court, Oklahoma City has to hold back Barea.
Step 5: Thunder have to stay out of Foul Trouble
The Thunder forward-centres, Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison committed four fouls apiece in the previous game and as a result, they simply could not handle the German machine, Dirk Nowitzki. Kevin Durant, the leading scorer for the
Thunder, also had two quick fouls that affected his rhythm in the game. Part of that dilemma was that they had to take turns in fouling Nowitzki, who was simply unstoppable otherwise. That move backfired though as Nowitzki went a perfect 24-of-24 from the
charity stripe.
On Thursday night, Oklahoma City have to stay out of the foul trouble, not only to sustain their momentum, but also to restrict the Mavs from getting free points.
Conclusion
Overall, the defeat in the first game was not very demoralizing for the Thunder. Trailing by 11 points after three quarter, Oklahoma City showed some great guts and slashed the deficit to five in the fourth quarter. They were undone
by one man on the night and no one can ignore the fact that the Thunder is still a very young team and that they learn quickly. If Russell Westbrook concentrates on his duties rather than shooting and if the Thunder can hold Nowitzki to half his point total,
then they have a serious chance to go out and steal game-2.
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