Dirk Nowitzki tried his best. But even his turn-the-clock-back night wasn’t enough for the Mavericks to avoid reaching the brink of elimination.
Oklahoma City continued to pummel the Mavericks with superior depth, relying not so much on Russell Westbrook or Kevin Durant as Enes Kanter and Steven Adams for a 119-108 victory in Game 4 Saturday at American Airlines Center.
The Mavericks will trudge to Oklahoma City on Monday down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. They must win the remaining three games to get out of a series that they were heavy underdogs in to begin with.
Kanter was fabulous, carving up the Mavericks in the paint for 28 points. He got loads of help from Adams with 14 points and eight rebounds, including nine points in the third quarter when the Thunder fended off a strong Mavericks’ push.
Westbrook? He was huge with 25 points and 15 assists. But Durant had a relatively quiet night before getting ejected for a flagrant-2 foul in the final minute of the game when he conked Justin Anderson in the head.
Wasted was Nowitzki’s greatness as he piled up 27 points and eight rebounds. He got a rousing ovation when he left the court in the final minute. Raymond Felton tried to be Dirk’s sidekick. But there simply wasn’t enough help in the paint against the Thunder.
So lopsided has this series been that the Mavericks never led in Games 1, 3 or 4.
In Game 2, they were ahead for 20 minutes, 24 seconds. So they have trailed in 171:36 of the 192 minutes in the series.
And yet, they were within 105-95 with 4:42 left on Saturday, which is not an unthinkable rally, particularly on your home court. They had a chance to bite further into the lead after Serge Ibaka missed a 3-pointer, but Wesley Matthews and Nowitzki missed and Kanter converted on the other end to make it a 12-point lead with under four minutes left.
And that was that.
It was by far the most entertaining game of the series as the Mavericks fought for their life and the Thunder time and again came up with key plays whenever the Mavericks got within striking distance.
As it turned out, a 20-5 blitz to close out the first quarter was the Mavericks’ biggest mistake. They were tied at 13 and then completely fell asleep for the final five minutes of the quarter.
The Thunder scored on 10 of their final 11 possessions of the quarter.
The Mavericks spent the next three quarters trying to make up the deficit.
Most of the time, they kept it interesting with heart and smarts.
The manpower difference was hard to handle, however.
The Mavericks lost Deron Williams just 89 seconds into the game. He had to leave the game after trying to run down a loose ball. He had missed all of Game 3 and it was clear that he probably shouldn’t be playing with the sports hernia that has hindered him for the last month.
With J.J. Barea, Raymond Felton and Devin Harris trying to deal with Westbrook, the Mavericks were fighting a battle they simply could not win.
But while Westbrook was a monster all night, the Thunder also got a great boost from centre Adams.