Mavs Lose To Thunder
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OKLAHOMA CITY — For much of the season, the questions surrounding the Oklahoma City Thunder centered on what help they could acquire. Various players from various squads kept coming up in the rumor mill the past three months.
However, before the Thunder defeated the Dallas Mavericks 104-89 Thursday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, the most important move they made may have been getting rid of a player.
The Thunder improved to 29-25 on the same day they dealt away four players, including guard Reggie Jackson and center Kendrick Perkins, at the trade deadline.
“We felt like everybody wanted to be here except for one guy,” forward Kevin Durant said of Jackson. “He got what he wanted. He got what he wanted.”
Forward Serge Ibaka scored 21 points and grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds to lead Oklahoma City. Guard Russell Westbrook scored 34 points and 10 assists.
Thunder guard Anthony Morrow scored 16 points. Durant was held to 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting, and he left the game early for the second consecutive contest due to a sore right foot.
“It’s a little sore,” Durant said. “I’ll talk to the trainers tomorrow to see
what we can do to make it better.”
Despite the return of guard Rajon Rondo to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 31, Dallas dropped to 36-20. The Mavericks shot 36.3 percent from the field and were outrebounded 62-39. The Thunder shot 41.8 percent.
Forward Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs with 14 points on 6-for-16 shooting. Guard Devin Harris came off the bench to score 13 points in 18 minutes.
“Coming out of the break, we just weren’t very sharp unfortunately,” Nowitzki said. “I thought we tried to keep competing. I thought we missed shots and (committed) bad turnovers. I think we got frustrated a little bit. We started arguing a little bit too much with ourselves instead of just playing and competing.”
Oklahoma City came out in the first half as if it had something to prove. With a disgruntled Jackson now on the Detroit Pistons’ roster, the Thunder seemed to have an extra bounce in their step against the Mavericks.
Morrow quickly showed why he may be the biggest beneficiary of the Jackson trade. He tallied 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting in the first half. Morrow sank a jumper at the buzzer to give the Thunder a 52-36 halftime advantage.
The 36 first-half points represented the second-lowest output of the season for Dallas. Despite coming off a long break, the Mavericks shot only 29 percent while turning the ball over 12 times in the first half.
Oklahoma City continued to increase its lead without Westbrook or Durant putting up big numbers. Along with the balanced scoring attack, the Thunder used a stifling defense and serious work on the boards. In the third quarter alone, Ibaka hauled in seven rebounds.
After the Mavs fell behind by 22 points, they slowly began to creep back into the game as the Thunder wore down. Dallas used an 8-0 run to start the fourth and only trailed 83-73 with 10:12 left in the game.
However, that was as close as Dallas would get the rest of the night.
“It was poor, a poor performance,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “No question about it. Some were bad decisions. Some were them making good plays. Bottom line is, we’ve got to be better.”
