Thunder stay in Texas, play Dallas in second night of back-to-back

Views from OKC is a daily diary about the current state of the OKC Thunder. Today we preview the matchup against the Dallas Mavericks.

After a rough loss yesterday, the Thunder are back in action tonight in Dallas at 7:30 central. The Mavericks have lost three of their last five, including blowouts to both the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers. Oklahoma City on the other hand has won three of their last five; both losses came to championship contenders in the Warriors and Rockets.

The last time these teams faced Dallas handled a struggling Thunder squad a 104-89 loss. The Mavericks offense was uncharacteristically hot that night while players not named Russell Westbrook could not get anything going. If both teams come in playing with their similar form that script should be reversed.

Dallas has failed to pass 100 points in six of their last eight games, including two games in which they failed to surpass 78 points. The Thunder have been the exact opposite, passing the century-mark in all but one game since the aforementioned Mavericks matchup.

Keys to the game

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The OKC Thunder have to come out angry and with energy. No team is ever pleased giving up 137 points in a game, but when you are dealing with a team as young as the Thunder there is always a chance for the team to come out slow. Besides Russell Westbrook, not many players on the team wear their emotions on their sleeves. These guys are passionate about the game, but I need to see that passion tonight.

Stop Harrison Barnes. Barnes is the offensive fulcrum for Dallas, and as a stretch four he will cause matchup problems for the Thunder all night. When the Mavericks scored > 80 points as I mentioned earlier Barnes combined for nine points. Stop him and the rest of the Dallas offense goes with it.

Attack the basket. The frontcourt of Dirk Nowitzki and Barnes strikes zero fear in the hearts of NBA bigs. Before Rick Carlisle realizes he needs to play Nerlens Noel the Thunder must make it a priority to establish their dominance down low. Shooting a ton of threes will only play right into Dallas’ hands.

MUST READ: Five takeaways from last night’s blowout in Houston

One final key to the game, not relating to the Thunder at all. This one is for OKC fans, specifically those who use Twitter. This is exactly the types of tweets I don’t want to see:

This was tweeted in response to the Thunder’s 8-0 run after being down 20 to the Rockets. By now I would hope we all understand how basketball works. It is a game of runs; there’s a reason professional ball is played for 48 minutes.

Please do not take every mini-run as a sign that the entire game/season/world has changed forever. Thank you. and enjoy the game tonight.