Quick Thoughts on Thunder Loss to Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 104 – 89, making it now three straight losses for OKC.
The Thunder’s third straight loss happens to be their third straight on the road; Oklahoma City has struggled all season as the visiting team. For this iteration of the Thunder, a disadvantage such as this one is a major hindrance. Nearly a week ago this team was on the verge of closing the gap between themselves and the fourth seed in the Western Conference. Tonight’s loss makes the margin a bit wider.
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For the third straight game the Thunder allowed the game to be decided by poor first half play. The Mavericks shot 62% from the field in the first half and scored 60 points. Russell Westbrook recognized that the game might’ve been teetering a bit in the first quarter and went for 14 in that frame on 5-9 from the field.
Once he sat for a breather at the beginning of the second quarter, the game went full tilt. While Westbrook was on the bench the mavericks continued to shoot 50% against the Thunder’s 30%. Westbrook shot 0-4 in the quarter and had zero free throw attempts.
The Dallas Mavericks were able to create a viable environment for themselves on the offensive end – playing completely unfettered on that end. Dallas’s 24 assists is one piece of proof of their offensive performance tonight.
Dirk Nowitzki was in rare form tonight, going for 18 points and 12 rebounds while shooting 47%. Nowitzki constantly torched the Thunder bigs as head Coach Rick Carlise toyed with OKC by placing Dirk at the center spot. Neither Steven Adams nor rookie Domantas Sabonis could stifle the efficient Dirk.
The defense of the Thunder clearly was the main culprit of the loss, but the offense was just as bad. Oklahoma City kept pace for most of the first half but it soon wavered as the Thunder could no longer get the ball to fall in the basket. Shooting 2-22 from three would dwindle the hopes of a win for any team. The team shot 40% overall and spread out 19 total assists.
Next Up: Tuesday at Home hosting the Portland Trailblazers
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Nightly Notable
The Twin Towers, Enes Kanter and Adams were effective scoring 16 and 19 points respectively. Kanter brought down ten rebounds.
Russell Westbrook played the entire first quarter in tonight’s game. Billy Donovan has probably decided to shake the team out of the funk by extending Westbrook’s court-time.
Seth Curry – 22 points – shot 62% from the field and gave Andre Roberson fits for most of the night.
The Thunder are now 12-20 on the road and are now four games back of the four seed.