Kevin Durant erupted with 31 points as Oklahoma City Thunder take defending champions Dallas Mavericks to the brink of elimination
Kevin Durant finally put his offensive troubles behind him and got going early in this one to help the Oklahoma City Thunder take a commanding 3-0 lead over the reigning NBA Champions in the first round off the
playoffs.
After just edging out the first two games at home, OKC came out with all guns blazing in Game 3 on Thursday night at the American Airlines Center.
They were led by an offensive exhibition by the three time scoring champion, who finished the game with an 11-of-15 shooting night to rack up 31 points, 21 of those coming in the first half.
Not only did KD contribute on the offensive end, he also recorded 6 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot to go along with a 4-of-6 shooting display from beyond the arc. Russell Westbrook who had been in excellent
form in the post season struggled with an 8-19 shooting night but he did manage to finish with 20 points in the game.
Three players for the Thunder, contributed 10 points each, the first being Serge Ibaka, who along with those points was also responsible for 4 rejections and collected 11 boards in the game. The other were Derek
Fisher and James Harden with both of them coming off the bench to offer their assistance to the OKC`s dominant night.
Mavericks struggled to get going offensively at home as they put up a woeful display of 34.2% from the field as compared t0 42.4 from OKC. Dirk Nowitzki shot the ball 6 off 15 for his 17 points and 9 rebounds
whereas Jason Kidd was the only other Mavs starter reaching the double digit mark with 12 points.
The offensive struggles even took over the in-form Jason Terry who had been in excellent form of late. He came off the bench to shoot the ball 3-of-10 from the floor and record only 11 points in the game.
Away from home, OKC were not expected to make a good start in the game; however they came out with great intensity to hold an early 16-7 lead. In that span, Durant hit a couple of threes to set the tone for the
matchup.
Thunder, kept the momentum going and were able to push their advantage into double figures on a Durant free throw with 4:01 to go. However, the Maverick did offer some resistance late in the first quarter, courtesy
of a 13-4 run to make the scores 32-26.
Oklahoma City continued their offensive dominance and by the 6:07 mark in the second quarter, they were able to get their double digit lead back, 40-30.
They led by as much as 15, their biggest lead on the night thus far, made possible by a Westbrook three pointer. Mavericks again tried to put up a late charge and by the half, they were able to close in at 41-50.
Even though the Mavericks were able to follow that up with 4 quick points in the third quarter to cut the advantage down to 5 but the Thunder put an end to that charge by responding with 6 unanswered points of
their own.
Oklahoma City`s advantage never really got below double digits from there on which enabled them to cruise for the rest of the proceedings.
Even though the Mavs closed the match out on 10 to nothing run but it did not have much effect on the eventual outcome of the game. The 16 point defeat by the hands of OKC further dims the chances of Mavs hopes
of repeating this year as no team in the NBA history has ever come back from 3-0 deficit to win the series.
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