There are certain things an NBA championship team must be able to do. They must be able to win important games on the road no matter how hostile the crowd. A champion must be able to play great defense no matter the talent an offense presents on the court. Also a champion needs a superstar player who can carry the team when it needs to be, but also his teammates must at times carry him when that star has an off night. If Saturday night's was any indication the Mavericks might be on there way to becoming a champion at last.
Despite an off shooting night from Dirk Nowitzki(7-21, 18 points, 7 TO) the Mavs retook home court from Oklahoma City with a 93-87 win in Game 3 of the West Finals for a 2-1 series advantage. After not preforming to their defensive standards of the first two rounds in Games 1 and 2 the Mavs rediscovered their defensive intensity early jumping out to a 23 point lead in the first half, thereby quieting the arena and giving the home fans very little to cheer about. Leading the Mavs effort were Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion who played well on both sides of the ball. Marion tied Dirk for the team high in points with 18 while Kidd contributed an all around fantastic game with 13 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals.
The Mavs led by Marion held Kevin Durant to a 7-22 shooting performance including going 0-8 on threes for 24 points. In fact the entire Oklahoma City was ice cold from the field shooting .365% from the field and an embarrassing 1-17 from 3 including missing their first 16 shots from distance.
The Thunder did have their inevitable 4th quarter rally cutting the lead to 6 with under 3 minutes to go. The Mavericks showed once again that they have put Game 4 in Portland behind them and behind clutch shots and free throws by the duo of Dirk and Jason Terry(13 points, 6 assists) and key stops on defense help off the Thunder charge despite some questionable officiating.
Russell Westbrook responded to this 4th quarter benching in Game 2 with a Thunder high of 30 points, but struggled to help his teammates much with only 4 assists compared to 7 turnovers. While Kidd might not have the speed and athleticism anymore of a young player like Westbrook he can help his team in so many more areas by thinking the game as well as just about any player in history.
Tyson Chandler continued to show the Thunder what they missed out when they rescinded the trade they made for him 2 years ago. He contributed 8 points and 15 boards and left Oklahoma City so frustrated by his play they resorted to basically trying to draw technicals against them, as they did when James Harden ridiculously flopped on minimal contact.
Speaking of Harden after his incredible game 2 he was held almost completely in check going 2-9 from the field for only 7 points. Just another way the Dallas defense befuddled the usually potent Thunder attack.
Now it is on to the always pivotal game 4 where they know they will see a hungrier and more desperate Oklahoma City squad show up as they try to avoid losing 2 straight for the first time all postseason.
As long as the Mavs bring the defensive effort to go along what should be a bounce back game for Dirk, they should be in good shape to possibly go to 4-0 in OKC this year and go back home to clinch a Finals berth in Game 5.
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