Thunder VS Maverick (Game 3)

Thunder Lead Series 2-1

The Mavs looks great in this game despite loosing by 29 points. The Thunder just looked even better. This was really anyone's game til the 4th quarter, which is the Thunder just finally pulled away from the Mavs. The Thunder shot over 60% from the field and from 3 in the fourth quarter, giving the Mavs no chance to catch up.

I was very impressed by the Mavs guard play. J.J. Barea looked great in his return. He had 15 points and 7 assists. Raymond Felton also had 18 points. They were just great offensively, but they were great defensively as they were very physical. Westbrook shot only 4-9 in the paint. Also, Westbrook didn't get 1 rebounds in the game. This was the first time this has ever happened to Westbrook in the playoffs and only the 7th time in his career where he didn't record 1 rebound in a game. Westbrook also had 6 turnovers in the game.

Durant was defended really well. While he had 33 points, most of them were free throws. Durant only shot 8-22 on contested field goals and only had 3 uncontested field goals in which he made all of them. It really the bigs for Dallas that didn't do a great job defending the rim. Dirk was their best big man defender and the bench really hurt them when Barea and Dirk were out of the game. If they played the whole game, Dallas would have theoretically lost by 3 points. Big difference. Barea and Dirk in pick and roll were so great. They dominated the floor and sent Dallas on some big runs during the game. They will be a crucial part of this series if it is going to be pushed to a game 7.

I though OKC was very comfortable in moving the ball around and finding open players unlike in game 2. Dion Waiters and Serge Ibaka had a combined 35 points and Kanter had 21 points to add to that as well which really took the pressure off Westbrook and KD a little bit. They looked very comfortable on offense but on defense they need to figure out a way to stop the Barea and Dirk pick and roll because it's killing them.