Oklahoma City Thunder 131 — Dallas Mavs 102
OKC’s Thunder took care of business on Thursday night with a wire to wire road blowout win over the injury decimated Dallas Mavs to take a 2-1 series lead.
There was no drama in this one. OKC played better, shot the ball better, and got their third, fourth, and fifth options all involved on a night which needs to be the template for the Thunder moving forward when they meet the Spurs in the second round. Durant and Westbrook both had bounce back games, but that’s expected from the two stars.
What was more encouraging to witness was the involvement and production from Enes Kanter, Serge Ibaka, and Dion Waiters. All three had double figure nights. All three were efficient. This is what OKC needs from these three players in the playoffs. Combined they made 15 of the 20 shots they attempted for 56 points. It doesn’t get much more efficient than that.
OKC never trailed in this game. Won all four quarters and quite honestly dominated just as they should have in Game 2. Yeah, I know making shots at a 57.7% clip from the field and making 15 3’s makes the game infinitely easier, but so does playing a little smarter and getting someone not named Durant and Westbrook involved on the offensive end.
It’s naïve to think the role players can produce this efficiently at the same time every night, but if OKC can get something solid from these three it makes the Thunder an altogether different animal to defend in half court sets.
Losing Game 2 doesn’t matter much now as OKC has home court back in their pocket and ‘should’ look to take a commanding 3-1 series lead on Saturday night in Game 4. This is a Dallas team running on fumes. Deron Williams did not play on Thursday night, while JJ Barea did. Dallas just doesn’t have the talent to stay with OKC despite what we witnessed in Game 2.
Mantra from the Thunder should be simple. Focus. Take care of business. Advance.
Game 4 on Saturday night in Dallas.