Kevin Durant and James Harden lead the Oklahoma City Thunder past Dallas Mavericks 106-100 (Part 1)
Kevin Durant and James Harden combined for 47 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder hung tough to beat the Dallas Mavericks, 106-100 in the second game of the Western Conference Finals at the American Airlines Center. With this victory,
Oklahoma City tied the series at one game each.
The Thunder victory also snapped the franchise record seven-game postseason winning streak of the Mavericks. In addition to that, it was also the first defeat; Dallas endured in seven home playoff games.
The defeat was even more frustrating for the Mavs because they had the chance to actually win it. However, their three point experts, Peja Stojakovic and Jason Terry missed crucial three-pointers in the last 36 seconds of the game.
OKC’s All-Star, Durant, was as tough to guard as ever. The league top scorer scored a team high 24 points in the victory. However, the real difference maker of the night was Harden, who came off the bench and contributed 23 points,
seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals for OKC. The bearded Harden was especially awesome down the stretch, scoring four of his points in the closing seconds of the third quarter that put the Thunder up by one. The 21-year-old guard ended with 6-for-9
shooting from the field, 4-for-7 from the three point line and 7-for-8 from the charity stripe.
The Thunder’s head coach, Scott Brooks, praised the outstanding performance of Harden and said, "We have a lot of confidence in James. I personally do, our team does, our staff does. He made plays. He made big basketball plays,
and James is not just a spot-up shooter. He is a penetrator. He is a playmaker, and I thought he did it all tonight."
Russell Westbrook did not play at all in the fourth quarter but added 18 points and four assists. He committed four turnovers also, shooting 7-for-15 from the field. Eric Maynor chipped in with 13 points for the victors.
Dirk Nowitzki, coming off a 48-point effort in game-1, again led Dallas with a game-high 29 points. The 32-year-old power forward scored 16 of his points in the final stanza and also added five assists and 8 rebounds in the defeat.
However, Nowitzki missed a very crucial shot with 36.7 seconds left that could have put them within three.
Dallas centre Tyson Chandler posted 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds while Jason Kidd also finished with 13 points, seven assists, five rebounds and five steals. The Mavs’ bench was not up to the mark this time as J.J. Barea
tallied 11 points, and Jason Terry and Stojakovic added only eight points apiece.
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