Mavs lose to Thunder, series tied at 1

The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 106-100 in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals Thursday night at the American Airlines Center.  The loss stops a streak of 7 consecutive postseason wins by Dallas.

For the first time in the playoffs, the Dallas bench was outscored by the opposing bench.  Mavericks guard J.J. Barea noted, “I can’t remember the last time we lost the battle of the bench. It was going to happen at some point and it happened tonight and I give them a lot of credit. They were more aggressive and they made more big shots.”

Dallas shot only 37.5% in the second half, compared to 55.9% for Oklahoma City. 

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas scorers with 29 points, twenty fewer than Game 1.  Tyson Chandler got a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.  Jason Kidd scored 13 points to go with his 7 assists.  J.J. Barea got 11 points off the bench.

Jason Terry, who single-handedly outscored the Thunder reserves in Game 1, could only muster 8 points.

The series goes to Oklahoma City for game 3 on Saturday night.