Dirk finally wakes up in the 4th. Westbrook just killed the Thunder in the last 3 minutes with his decision making. And why do the Thunder not have Durant taking 3s in the last minute? Just a weird game and I thought both coaches pretty much sucked.
OKC shot horribly all game, especially for 3. Westbrook did make some bad decisions but I just don't think they were going to win this game. Again gotta give it to the Thunder for coming back, making it close, and keeping the pressure on the Mavs. If thunder can even the series Monday then it will be interesting to see how a long, competitive, past paced series wears on the Mavs. This game was lost in the 1st qtr.
Dallas almost pulled the same stunt they did against Portland. When will they learn that jacking 3's in the 4th qtr with a lead instead of driving to the hoop and getting to the foul line is not the way to go?
Nothing would surprise me about this series, however, to my biased eye, it's clear the better team is Dallas and if they decide to play defense they will win this series, maybe even in 5. I think it will go 6 with OKC winning Monday and Dallas winning the next 2 just like the Portland series.
The Thunder feed off of Durant and his uncharacteristic poor play affected the entire team offense in game three. I believe he comes out on a mission in game 4.
The Thunder reminded me of the UT team of the last couple years-- the more pressure the players felt, they more they felt compelled to ignore their teammates and force up a shot. Even when they closed it to 6 with a couple minutes left, they had 3 straight possessions where they heaved up a 3 -- two of them wildly -- as soon as they crossed midcourt.
The Mavericks feed off of Nowitzki and his uncharacteristic poor play affected the entire team offense in game three. I believe he comes out on a mission in game 4.
Thanks for making my point. Is it a 23-point lead that was blown by one team, or a gallant come-from-behind effort that just fell short by the other? Depens on what side of the bias you are on.
I still think they dug themselves too big a hole to really have a chance at winning that game. At no time in that game did I ever think, man, they have a real chance to win this thing. I wanted them to get back into it to keep it close and force Dallas to keep their starters out their longer. Didn't want Mavs getting any more rest. Dallas FG% and 3 pt % have fallen off. I don't think this will be the only game in the series that the Thunder will see that and hopefully they can take advantage next time. Thunder were taking poor shot at times and not working the ball around in the half court offense....mostly due to Westbrook in the 4th qtr. He either took at a 1 shot 1 one man possession or didn't get the ball to Durant most of the possessions. Thunder played like a young inexperienced team out there. For Dallas I thought it was more just tired legs having to run up and down the court with the Thunder for 3 games. Story for the Thunder has continued to be about Westbrook and his poor decision making and inability to get Durantula the ball. The only game they have won thus far they had to take him out of the game in the 4th.
I thought even before this series that Paul deserved 2nd team all-NBA over Westbrook. Dallas just ran a much better all-around offense than OKC did. Part of that is that having Kidd makes any offense look better, but the whole team was moving well without the ball, everyone but Dirk was making good, crisp passes, their decision-making was usually very decisive which kept them a half-step ahead of the Thunder, etc.
The difference in this series is offensive flow. Dallas generally has it while OKC generally doesn't. The OKC offense reminds me of a so-called "one read" quarterback in football parlance. If the first option isn't open (Durant and/or Harden), have your athletic quarterback (Westbrook) wing it, hoping for the best. The Mavs offense doesn't immediately devolve into a bunch of monkeys flinging poo at one another if Dirk is covered. The reason for that is pretty obvious: their system seems more predicated on ball movement. Sure, it breaks down sometimes, but it doesn't seem to do so at near the frequency as the OKC offense does when Durant is covered off his initial screen. I feel the series will continue to play out this way, with the Mavs winning in 6 or 7 games. Just an uninformed opinion I've developed watching these first 3 games.
True words, OUE. Not sure where Westbrook ranks among the league point guards... maybe somewhere in the 4-6 range(?). He was hit-and-miss in the Memphis series. He's been outright putrid in this one. Kind of sucks for him, since it's the first time a lot of people have seen him play, and he's been awful. I can't blame anyone pronouncing him overrated if you haven't seen him play a lot. Only reason I have is because I try to watch Durant when possible. Like I said, OKC in this series looks a lot like the Texas team of the last couple seasons (especially last year) -- when they work the ball and play unselfishly, they look amazing. But in some games, they'll go entire quarters where they look like they're on a 7-second shot clock. Like my Horns, it's hard to tell sometimes why that's happening-- either it's young players pressing too hard and trying to force something good to happen, or maybe it's contagious selfishness (knowing damn well if you pass the ball you won't get it back).
Both. Dirk just went off late and OKC made more bad decisions down the stretch as a young team. I think you really missed the point though. Point was IF Thunder could pull off game 4 and extended the series that legs would become a factor. Now that OKC has blown game 4 I think the series is over.
So OKC can't come back from down double digits - very early, mind you - but Dallas can come back down 12 in the last 4:34 with their old, tired legs? Got it buddy. Go back to the West Mall and recommend people start buying Smart cars again, Okie-lover.
Kidds BBall IQ is so high. He looks only toward the OKC side and then throws a perfect pass to Terry as he breaks toward the Mav bench to run more time off at the end. I thought Collison was just mauling Dirk and got away with murder and Dirk still puts up 40. He was grabbing Dirk around the waist, hand checking his hip, and Dirk got very few calls. A younger Dirk would not have been able to keep his composure. Don't think I could have.
I'm not even sure Westbrook is a top 10 PG in the league right now. Top 10 undersized SG? Sure. But that's about as far as I'd go. Durant needs to take this thing over with Harden if the Thunder want to even sniff a shot at pulling this out.
As far as point guards go, Deron, Paul, Parker, Rose and even Nash and Kidd are superior PGs. Westbrook is a dynamic scorer but his A/T ratio and shooting % are poor. He is a more athletic Devin Harris. He and Roy are undersized 2 guards. OKC needs to play a lot more of Westbrook at the 2 with their backup running point - especially when Kidd and Barea are on the floor together, or when Terry and Kidd/Barea are on the floor.
