Dirk Nowitzki’s 27 go to waste as Oklahoma City Thunder edge out Dallas Mavericks 95 – 91 – NBA Recap
The Dallas Mavericks haven’t exactly had a great run so far in the current NBA season and on Monday their problems continued with a narrow defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Playing at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, the Mavs were in the game for large parts
but couldn’t make the right plays at the end, which cost them the game.
"They go to the line 30 times and we go 10 but that's what it is on the road, we still had chances. It's tough we won the championship last year because we were the best team to execute down the stretch, getting what we want and getting stops but this year,
so far, we just don't have it." Said Dirk Nowitzki, the team’s talismanic power forward.
Nowitzki has shown signs of coming back into form after a hot and cold NBA season so far, and produced another vintage display tonight, scoring a game high 27 points on 10-of-22 shooting from the floor.
Jason Terry had 18 points coming off the bench while Ian Mahinmi had 13. Veteran Shawn Marion registered a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
For the Thunder, super star Kevin Durant was in form again, scoring 22 points and hauling down 7 rebounds. Russell Westbrook got the team high with 24 points and James Harden came off the bench to pound 16.
Centre Kendrick Perkins put in a good defensive shift and grabbed 14 boards to go along with 7 points.
"We gutted this one out. They threw different defences at us but we were finally able to make some plays. We just gotta keep playing hard even when shots aren't falling." Durant said after the game.
The game got off to a pretty even start and scores were close for much of the first quarter. Dallas were actually ahead near the end but a 5 – 0 spurt by OKC put them up instead, 26 – 23.
The Mavericks then started the second period with an 8 – 2 burst, going up 31 – 28. They continued to pound the Thunder and at one point were up by double digits, before ending the half 52 – 45.
Oklahoma City Thunder seemed to be struggling with their shooting before the break, so they shifted the focus onto defence after the interval. The Thunder produced an intense display in the 3rd segment, holding the Mavs to just 13 points. OKC
capitalized on the other end, scoring 23 points, and ended the quarter up at 68 – 65.
The last 12 minutes saw some good basketball from both sides. The momentum shifted more than once and the teams competed with a lot of gusto. The Mavericks were in a better position with just under 3 minutes remaining at 91 – 87, but OKC went on an 8 – 0
run to end the game and secure a 95 – 91 win.
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